Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, ISSN - 0973 - 709X

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Dr. Arundhathi. S
MBBS, MD (Pathology),
Sanjay Gandhi institute of trauma and orthopedics,
Bengaluru.
On Aug 2018




Dr. Mamta Gupta,
"It gives me great pleasure to be associated with JCDR, since last 2-3 years. Since then I have authored, co-authored and reviewed about 25 articles in JCDR. I thank JCDR for giving me an opportunity to improve my own skills as an author and a reviewer.
It 's a multispecialty journal, publishing high quality articles. It gives a platform to the authors to publish their research work which can be available for everyone across the globe to read. The best thing about JCDR is that the full articles of all medical specialties are available as pdf/html for reading free of cost or without institutional subscription, which is not there for other journals. For those who have problem in writing manuscript or do statistical work, JCDR comes for their rescue.
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Reviewing articles is no less a pain staking process and requires in depth perception, knowledge about the topic for review. It requires time and concentration, yet I enjoy doing it. The JCDR website especially for the reviewers is quite user friendly. My suggestions for improving the journal is, more strict review process, so that only high quality articles are published. I find a a good number of articles in Obst. Gynae, hence, a new journal for this specialty titled JCDR-OG can be started. May be a bimonthly or quarterly publication to begin with. Only selected articles should find a place in it.
An yearly reward for the best article authored can also incentivize the authors. Though the process of finding the best article will be not be very easy. I do not know how reviewing process can be improved. If an article is being reviewed by two reviewers, then opinion of one can be communicated to the other or the final opinion of the editor can be communicated to the reviewer if requested for. This will help one’s reviewing skills.
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Dr. Mamta Gupta
Consultant
(Ex HOD Obs &Gynae, Hindu Rao Hospital and associated NDMC Medical College, Delhi)
Aug 2018




Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey

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Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011




Dr. Shankar P.R.

"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
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Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."



Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011
Anuradha

Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.


Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020

Important Notice

Original article / research
Year : 2021 | Month : July | Volume : 15 | Issue : 7 | Page : VC11 - VC14 Full Version

Study of Socio-demographic and Clinical Profile of Individuals with Deliberate Self-harm Attempt during COVID-19 Lockdown


Published: July 1, 2021 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2021/48380.15144
NV Roopesh Gopal, SV Sathish Kumar

1. Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri, Karnataka, India. 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri, Karnataka, India.

Correspondence Address :
Dr. SV Sathish Kumar,
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri-571201, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: svsk666@gmail.com

Abstract

Introduction: Self-harm attempt is an important aspect in consultation liaison psychiatry. During lockdown due to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many people underwent various stressors. Many individuals were referred to Psychiatry Out Patient Department (OPD) with a history of self-harm attempt. They were also aware of the travel restrictions and difficulty in reaching hospitals. So, it was necessary to understand the reasons for the self-harm attempt, especially during the lockdown.

Aim: To study the socio-demographic and clinical profile of individuals with self-harm attempt during the lockdown.

Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was done during the COVID-19 lockdown period (last week of March 2020 till end of May 2020) in the Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Madikeri, Karnataka, India. A total of 52 subjects of self-harm attempt who were referred to the Department of Psychiatry for counseling and needed psychological help, on regular OPD days were recruited for the study after obtaining informed consent. Socio-demographic and clinical details like nature of self-harm attempt, method of attempt, number of attempts, reason for attempt, time of attempt, consumed alcohol prior to the attempt, how did they reach hospital, clinical depression, difficulty in reaching hospital due to lockdown, regret/remorse about the attempt were documented using the semi-structured proforma. The data was expressed as percentages and Chi-square test was applied. A p-value less than 0.001 were considered as significant.

Results: Out of 52 subjects, 65.4% belonged to 21-40 years of age, 51.9% were females, 65.4% were married, 30.8% belonged to lower socio-economic status, 61.6% residing in a rural area, education below class 10 (73.07%), the predominant occupation was labourers and home maker. Poisoning was the common method and 25% had depression and needed medications. The interpersonal conflict was the common reason and had difficulties due to lockdown (5.7%). However, the findings were statistically not significant among males and females.

Conclusion: Self-harm attempt was common in young married females in a rural area by poisoning, who reported depression, interpersonal conflict and economic difficulties during the lockdown.

Keywords

Coronavirus 2019, Depression, Pandemic, Suicide attempt

Self-harm is a term used to describe wide range of behaviours and intentions which includes attempted hanging, impulsive self-poisoning, overdosing medications etc. Various terms can be used interchangeably for self-harm attempt like “attempted suicide,” “deliberate self-poisoning”, “deliberate self-harm or injury” and “parasuicide” (1),(2) and it is one of the top five causes of acute medical admissions for both men and women (3).

Suicide is a serious global public health issue. It is among the top 20 leading causes of death worldwide, with more deaths due to suicide than malaria, breast cancer or war and homicide. Close to 8,00,000 people die by suicide every year (4).

The onset of COVID-19 began in India at the end of January 2020 and since then cases started increasing, the government of India announced the entire nationwide lockdown from 4th week of March 2020, where apart from essential services almost all the movements across the country were restricted. However, government and private health care facilities continued to serve the community with emergency services.

During this time even though restriction to the movement was there, cases of self-harm attempt presenting to the emergency/casualty were noted. Subsequently after stabilisation they were referred to the outpatient department for psychiatry evaluation, psychosocial interventions and counseling. Hence, the present study was done with the aim to understand the demographic and clinical profile of the subjects who had deliberate self-harm attempt during the lockdown period.

Our Department of Psychiatry was regularly getting referrals from physicians to evaluate patients who attempted suicide and survived; and after which they were physically stable. We are collecting the data of such patients with the objectives to understand the reasons for their attempt, methods used, number of attempts in the past, and other socio-economic and clinical profile. This study was going on since last 2-3 years on regular basis.

The present study was the part of the above study where data was collected exclusively during the lockdown period.

As we have noted, there was significant decrease in the number of patients visiting Psychiatry OPD due to lockdown, but the patients with suicide attempt (self-harm attempt) keep on coming in spite of restrictions in movement of vehicles and transport facilities.

Hence the study was conducted and the subjects were recruited during the lockdown (pandemic time) in which the situation was different from routine situations (i.e., non-pandemic times).

Material and Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Madikeri, Karnataka, India, during the time of lockdown (from last week of March 2020 till end of May 2020) due to COVID-19 pandemic. The present study is a part ongoing study on self-harm attempt for which Ethical committee clearance was already obtained (KoIMS/IEC/12/18-19).

Inclusion criteria: Out of 60 subjects with deliberate self-harm attempt (both males and females) who were referred to the Department of Psychiatry, 52 subjects who had reliable informant and gave consent to participate in the study as inclusion criteria, were recruited by purposive sampling method.

Exclusion criteria: Among the remaining 8 subjects, five subjects did not give consent and three subjects did not have reliable informants, hence they were excluded from the study.

Semi structured socio-demographic and clinical data (based on previous studies on self-harm attempt) sheet was used to record the variables like nature of self-harm attempt, method of attempt, number of attempts, reason for attempt, time of attempt, consumed alcohol prior to the attempt, how did they reach hospital, clinical depression, difficulty in reaching hospital due to lockdown, regret/remorse about the attempt (5). Modified Kuppuswamy socio-economic scale updated for the year 2019 was used to categorise the socio-economic status of the study subjects (6). International Classification of Diseases, revision 10 (Diagnostic Criteria for Research) (7) was used to diagnose depression among study subjects.

Statistical Analysis

Socio demographic variables were expressed as percentages and non-parametric Chi-square test was used for clinical variables. Statistical significance was considered at p-value less than 0.001.

Results

Socio-demography (Table/Fig 1)

Total of 52 subjects who were included in this study, there was a slight female preponderance among the study sample (51.9%). About 65.4% of them were in the age group of 20 to 40 years followed by 25% below the age of 20 years. Majority of them were having education below class 10 (73.1%), belonged to rural area (61.6%) and were married (65.4%). A 78.9% of the subjects belonged to lower socio-economic status (Upper lower and lower, according to modified Kuppuswamy socio-economic scale updated for the year 2019). Most common occupation was labourer/farmer (40.4%), followed by homemakers (34.60%) and students (25%). Only 3.8% had reported past history of self-harm attempt and 11.5% had family history of suicide/attempted suicide.

Clinical Profile of Individuals with Self-harm Attempt (Table/Fig 2)

A 61.5% reported that their self-harm attempt was impulsive in nature and it was their first attempt (96.2%) and poisoning was the most common method (57.7%) chosen, as it was easily available.

Main reason for attempt was interpersonal conflict with spouse and other family members, among students it was study related stress due to pandemic and broken relationships. Only 5.7% reported loss of job due to lock down and pandemic was the reason for their attempt.

Majority of them attempted self-harm during day time (69.2%), few consumed alcohol prior the attempt (19.2%), and reach the hospital by private or rented vehicle (51.9%) and 86.5% reported difficulty in reaching hospital as vehicles were not easily available due to movement restrictions during lockdown. A 90.4% expressed regret/remorse about their self-harm attempt. A 25% were diagnosed to have clinical depression and started on antidepressant medications. However, these findings were not statistically significant.

Discussion

Subjects who attempt deliberate self-harm are often unrecognised, unless it comes to clinical attention and hidden by family members due to fear of legal problems. COVID-19 pandemic and difficulties arising due to lockdown was an unprecedented situation where most of the people were affected. In spite of such difficulties people do attempted for deliberate self-harm due to various reasons which we tried to assess in the present study.

There was a slight female preponderance in the present study which may be due to increased family stress like increased household work, altercations with family members and worry about education of the children, due to lockdown and this finding is in contrast with other Indian studies (5),(8),(9),(10),(11) which noted male preponderance and those studies were conducted during non pandemic time.

The propensity of young adults for self-harm attempt is a constant finding among different cultures and it indicates the vulnerability of this age group (12). The social pressures such as study-related problems, domestic responsibilities, broken emotional relationship, and financial insecurity may be the possible reasons which tend to be prevalent in this age group (13) and were aggravated especially during COVID-19 lockdown as noted in the present study in support of earlier studies.

A 65.4% of the married individuals belonged to rural area with education below class 10 attempted self-harm which is in consistent with researches from Indian subcontinent (5),(10), the reasons being possible increased domestic violence, financial burden due to loss of job, enhanced responsibility of married individuals during lockdown as most of them were staying indoors.

In the present study, the subjects belonged to lower socio-economic status (78.9), which is in contrast with one Indian study (10) where 85% of the subjects were belonged to middle socio-economic status. The probable reason might be the impact of lockdown predominantly affecting the people with lower socio-economic status.

Methods Chosen for Self-harm Attempt

Self-poisoning was the most common method used (86%) in the current study. Insecticide was the most common poison used. Most of the Indian studies had similar findings. The possible reasons being: (1) Most of them are staying indoors due to lockdown and easy availability of insecticide; (2) farmers, who come across insecticides in their fields and houses; (3) popularity of insecticides as deadly poisons; and (4) increased media reporting of such acts which is a cause of concern (10),(11),(14),(15),(16).

Appropriate community education and individual counselling to be given to the farmers by the government agencies, regarding the "safe storage" of insecticides. The death caused by consumption of pesticides could be reduced by reporting on the availability and restriction of its use rather than mentioning the toxicity of the pesticides that are available for sale in the market.

Stressors and Self-harm Attempt

Most common reasons which were well acknowledged in previous Indian studies (5),(10) similar to current study are interpersonal conflicts with the family members, conflicts with spouse or partner, and broken emotional relationship. Among students study related stress was noted due to postponement of exams indefinitely and burden of attending online classes with limited internet connectivity especially in rural areas.

About 25% of the present study subjects reported clinical depression which needed pharmacological management with antidepressant medications. Previous studies have also noted psychiatric co-morbidities like depression and adjustment disorders as most common findings followed by neurotic, stress, personality, and substance-related disorders among those who attempt self-harm (5),(10).

About 5.7% of the present study subjects reported that loss of job and financial difficulties due to COVID-19 lockdown which counted as the reasons for their self-harm attempt. Study by Sahoo S et al., noted in their case report that those COVID-19 positive cases attempted suicide were found to have depression and also they were stressed about unnecessary information available in the media regarding COVID-19 (17).

Most of present study subjects were very well aware of the prevailing situations due to lockdown in the country in the form of difficulty in getting vehicles and restriction in movements to reach the hospitals in time. Being in mental health profession it is important to educate the society and identify the vulnerable subjects who are at risk of attempting suicide and also provide necessary early interventions to prevent future self-harm attempt.

Use of technology like telepsychiatry, online consultations is an important intervention strategy to promote positive mental health and provide counseling to the public in suicide prevention techniques is very important especially during the time of pandemic like COVID-19.

Role of media in reporting of suicides in the society without exaggeration, especially in case of suicide by celebrities will be an important step towards discouraging modeling behaviors and preventing suicides/attempts in the society.

Limitation(s)

The sample size of the study was small. The study findings cannot be generalised to a community as it was done in a tertiary care centre. These lacunae need to be addressed in future studies in order to provide better mental health care to the public at large.

Conclusion

Among those cases presented for psychiatric evaluation during the time of lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, ingestion of Organophosphate Poisoning was most common method of Deliberate self-harm (DSH) in the individuals between age group of 20-40 years, who belonged to lower socio-economic status and rural background with slight female preponderance. Married subjects who experienced interpersonal conflicts along with difficulties due to lockdown also reported more attempts of DSH.

References

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Hawton K, Catalan J. Attempted suicide: A practical guide to its nature and management. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1987.
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World Health Organization [2019]. Suicide in the world: Global Health Estimates., World Health Organization, Geneva.
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Mohd Saleem S. Modified Kuppuswamy socioeconomic scale updated for the year 2019. Indian J Forensic Community Med. 2019;6(1):01-03. [crossref]
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The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneval, World Health Organization, 1992.
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Sethi BB, Gupta SC, Singh H. Psychosocial factors and personality characteristics in cases of attempted suicide. Indian J Psychiatry. 1978;20:25-30.
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Gupta SC, Singh H. Psychiatric illness in suicide attempters. Indian J Psychiatry. 1981;23:69-74.
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Das PP, Grover S, Avasthi A, Chakrabarti S, Malhotra S, Kumar S, et al. Intentional self-harm seen in psychiatric referrals in a tertiary care hospital. Indian J Psychiatry. 2008;50:187-91. [crossref] [PubMed]
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Jain V, Singh H, Gupta SC, Kumar S. A study of hopelessness, suicidal intent and depession in cases of attempted suicide. Indian J Psychiatry. 1999;41:122-30.
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DOI and Others

10.7860/JCDR/2021/48380.15144

Date of Submission: Jan 06, 2021
Date of Peer Review: Mar 18, 2021
Date of Acceptance: Jun 03, 2021
Date of Publishing: Jul 01, 2021

AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA

PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Jan 07, 2021
• Manual Googling: May 31, 2021
• iThenticate Software: Jun 14, 2021 (11%)

ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin

JCDR is now Monthly and more widely Indexed .
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