There is concern that the COVID-19 pandemic may cause increased risk of suicide. In the current study, we tested whether suicidal thinking has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether such thinking was predicted by increased feelings of social isolation. In a sample of 55 individuals recently hospitalized for suicidal thinking or behaviors and participating in a 6-month intensive longitudinal smartphone monitoring study, we examined suicidal thinking and isolation before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States. We found that suicidal thinking increased significantly among adults (odds ratio [OR] = 4.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [3.28, 4.90], p < .001) but not adolescents (OR = 0.84, 95% CI = [0.69, 1.01], p = .07) during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased feelings of isolation predicted suicidal thinking during the pandemic phase. Given the importance of social distancing policies, these findings support the need for digital outreach and treatment.

令人担忧的是，COVID-19大流行可能导致自杀风险增加。在当前的研究中，我们测试了自杀思维在COVID-19大流行期间是否有所增加，以及这种想法是否是由增加的社会孤立感所预测的。在最近有55位因自杀思维或行为而住院并参加为期6个月的纵向智能手机监控研究的个人样本中，我们检查了COVID-19大流行在美国宣布为国家紧急状态前后的自杀思维和隔离。我们发现，自杀想法成年人（比值比[之间显著增加OR ] = 4.01，95％置信区间[CI] = [3.28，4.90]，p <0.001），但不青少年（OR在发生COVID-19大流行期间，病毒感染= 0.84，95 ％CI = [ 0.69，1.01 ]，p = .07）。在大流行阶段，越来越多的孤立感预示着自杀念头。考虑到社会疏远政策的重要性，这些发现支持了对数字宣传和治疗的需求。