people died by suicide, reflecting a 10% increase. In 2021 this number was 1561, and in 2022 1647 people completed suicide. While the number of violent suicide attempts increased by 16,5% between December 2019 and March in 2020, the estimated number of non-violent suicide attempts did not change in that period [1,2]. Given the forecasts of similar global emergency situations in the future, there is an imminent need to understand how such events impact suicidal behaviours to identify means of prevention and intervention. Objectives: We aimed to investigate trends in the characteristics of suicidal behaviour during the first pandemic years compared to pre-pandemic data, in patients admitted to the National Trauma Center in Budapest, Hungary, using an interrupted time-series analysis. Methods: We included patients consecutively admitted for medical treatment due to violent suicide attempts between 2016-2021 at the Dr. Manninger Jen} o National Trauma Center, Budapest, Hungary. We collected data on circumstances of suicide, including methods, motives, and demographic data. We used an interrupted time-series analysis with Prais-Winsten regression, controlling for autoregressive and seasonal effects, to estimate the effect of the pandemic years on violent suicide attempt rates in our sample. Demographic features, risk factors for suicidal behaviours, motivation, and methods were analysed by Chi-square test. Results: We involved 228 inpatients (65.4% male, 34.6% female). Thirty (13.1%) of them died during treatment due to severe medical complications. Among male attempters, the economically active age group (aged between 20-60) showed the highest ratio, whilst among female attempters, elderly patients aged between 60-80 showed the highest rate. The leading motives for the violent attempt, in decreasing order of frequency, included: divorce/separation/breakup, marital conflict, financial crisis (unemployment/sudden loss of workplace), loss of close relative, and severe/chronic somatic diseases. Leading violent methods included, in decreasing order of frequency: stabbing: 113 cases (49,5%), jumping from height: 64 cases (28,1%), jumping in front of train: 15 cases (6,6%), firearms: 10 cases (4,4%), autostrangulation: 8 cases (3,5%). Compared to previous years, during the first two pandemic years there was a significant increase in the number of inpatients treated due to violent suicide attempts. However, after the rapid change in 2020, decreasing numbers were observed in 2021. Comparing six years (2016-2021), the increased violent suicide rates observed during the first two pandemic years represented a marked change compared to the downward trends of violent suicide attempts of the previous years. Conclusion: Our data establish important findings concerning changes in suicidal behaviour during the early pandemic years compared to the tendencies observed in the prepandemic period, creating the base for understanding how sustained global emergencies may imp
