Social distancing (e.g., school and business closings) has been emphasized in current sociopolitical efforts in controlling COVID-19. Such policies are assumed to increase suicide risk through lowering social integration. While two studies have linked the presence of a pandemic to suicide rates, no study has assessed the degree of social distancing on suicide rates during a pandemic. The present study fills this gap with data on the extent of social distancing during the Spanish flu epidemic in 43 large cities. The results find that increasing social distancing increases suicide rates independent of the influenza mortality rate.

中文翻译：

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社会疏离可预测自杀率：对 43 个大城市 1918 年流感大流行的分析，研究报告

当前控制 COVID-19 的社会政治努力强调了社会距离（例如，学校和企业关闭）。此类政策被认为会通过降低社会融合度来增加自杀风险。虽然有两项研究将大流行的存在与自杀率联系起来，但没有研究评估大流行期间社会疏远对自杀率的影响程度。本研究用 43 个大城市西班牙流感流行期间社会疏离程度的数据填补了这一空白。结果发现，增加社交距离会增加自杀率，而与流感死亡率无关。