Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 7/2018

01-07-2018 | Original Paper

Increasing rates of self-harm among children, adolescents and young adults: a 10-year national registry study 2007–2016

Authors: Eve Griffin, Elaine McMahon, Fiona McNicholas, Paul Corcoran, Ivan J. Perry, Ella Arensman

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 7/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

Rates of hospital-treated self-harm are highest among young people. The current study examined trends in rates of self-harm among young people in Ireland over a 10-year period, as well as trends in self-harm methods.

Methods

Data from the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland on presentations to hospital emergency departments (EDs) following self-harm by those aged 10–24 years during the period 2007–2016 were included. We calculated annual self-harm rates per 100,000 by age, gender and method of self-harm. Poisson regression models were used to examine trends in rates of self-harm.

Results

The average person-based rate of self-harm among 10–24-year-olds was 318 per 100,000. Peak rates were observed among 15–19-year-old females (564 per 100,000) and 20–24-year-old males (448 per 100,000). Between 2007 and 2016, rates of self-harm increased by 22%, with increases most pronounced for females and those aged 10–14 years. There were marked increases in specific methods of self-harm, including those associated with high lethality.

Conclusions

The findings indicate that the age of onset of self-harm is decreasing. Increasing rates of self-harm, along with increases in highly lethal methods, indicate that targeted interventions in key transition stages for young people are warranted.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Hawton K, Saunders KE, O’Connor RC (2012) Self-harm and suicide in adolescents. Lancet 379:2373–2382CrossRefPubMed
2.
3.
Madge N, Hewitt A, Hawton K, de Wilde EJ, Corcoran P, Fekete S, van Heeringen K, De Leo D, Ystgaard M (2008) Deliberate self-harm within an international community sample of young people: comparative findings from the Child and Adolescent Self-harm in Europe (CASE) Study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49:667–677CrossRefPubMed
4.
5.
Marchant A, Hawton K, Stewart A, Montgomery P, Singaravelu V, Lloyd K, Purdy N, Daine K, John A (2017) A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and suicidal behaviour in young people: the good, the bad and the unknown. PLoS One 12:e0181722CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
6.
Jacob N, Evans R, Scourfield J (2017) The influence of online images on self-harm: a qualitative study of young people aged 16–24. J Adolesc 60:140–147CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
7.
Geulayov G, Kapur N, Turnbull P, Clements C, Waters K, Ness J, Townsend E, Hawton K (2016) Epidemiology and trends in non-fatal self-harm in three centres in England, 2000–2012. Findings from the Multicentre Study of Self-harm in England. BMJ Open 6:e010538CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
8.
Department of Health (2015) Connecting for Life: Ireland’s National Strategy to reduce suicide (2015–2020). Department of Health, Dublin
9.
Griffin E, Arensman E, Dillon CB, Corcoran P, Williamson E, Perry IJ (2017) National self-harm registry annual report 2016. National Suicide Research Foundation, Cork
10.
Bergen H, Hawton K, Waters K, Ness J, Cooper J, Steeg S, Kapur N (2012) Premature death after self-harm: a multicentre cohort study. Lancet 380:1568–1574CrossRefPubMed
11.
Runeson B, Tidemalm D, Dahlin M, Lichtenstein P, Langstrom N (2010) Method of attempted suicide as predictor of subsequent successful suicide: national long term cohort study. BMJ 341:c3222CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
12.
Diggins E, Kelley R, Cottrell D, House A, Owens D (2017) Age-related differences in self-harm presentations and subsequent management of adolescents and young adults at the emergency department. J Affect Disord 208:399–405CrossRefPubMed
13.
14.
Rhodes AE, Bethell J, Carlisle C, Rosychuk RJ, Lu H, Newton A (2014) Time trends in suicide-related behaviours in girls and boys. Can J Psychiatry 59:152–159CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
15.
Hawton K, Haw C, Casey D, Bale L, Brand F, Rutherford D (2015) Self-harm in Oxford, England: epidemiological and clinical trends, 1996–2010. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 50:695–704CrossRefPubMed
16.
Carr MJ, Ashcroft DM, Kontopantelis E, Awenat Y, Cooper J, Chew-Graham C, Kapur N, Webb RT (2016) The epidemiology of self-harm in a UK-wide primary care patient cohort, 2001–2013. BMC Psychiatry 16:53CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
17.
Platt S, Bille-Brahe U, Kerkhof A, Schmidtke A, Bjerke T, Crepet P, De Leo D, Haring C, Lonnqvist J, Michel K et al (1992) Parasuicide in Europe: the WHO/EURO multicentre study on parasuicide. I. Introduction and preliminary analysis for 1989. Acta Psychiatr Scand 85:97–104CrossRefPubMed
18.
Perry IJ, Corcoran P, Fitzgerald AP, Keeley HS, Reulbach U, Arensman E (2012) The incidence and repetition of hospital-treated deliberate self harm: findings from the world’s first national registry. PloS One 7:e31663CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
19.
20.
Morgan C, Webb RT, Carr MJ, Kontopantelis E, Green J, Chew-Graham CA, Kapur N, Ashcroft DM (2017) Incidence, clinical management, and mortality risk following self harm among children and adolescents: cohort study in primary care. BMJ 359:j4351CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
21.
Corcoran P, Griffin E, Arensman E, Fitzgerald AP, Perry IJ (2015) Impact of the economic recession and subsequent austerity on suicide and self-harm in Ireland: An interrupted time series analysis. Int J Epidemiol 44:969–977CrossRefPubMed
22.
Bor W, Dean AJ, Najman J, Hayatbakhsh R (2014) Are child and adolescent mental health problems increasing in the 21st century? A systematic review. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 48:606–616CrossRefPubMed
23.
Bennardi M, McMahon E, Corcoran P, Griffin E, Arensman E (2016) Risk of repeated self-harm and associated factors in children, adolescents and young adults. BMC Psychiatry 16:421CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
24.
Wasserman D, Hoven CW, Wasserman C, Wall M, Eisenberg R, Hadlaczky G, Kelleher I, Sarchiapone M, Apter A, Balazs J et al (2015) School-based suicide prevention programmes: the SEYLE cluster-randomised, controlled trial. Lancet 385:1536–1544CrossRefPubMed
25.
Arnett JJ, Zukauskiene R, Sugimura K (2014) The new life stage of emerging adulthood at ages 18–29 years: implications for mental health. Lancet Psychiatry 1:569–576CrossRefPubMed
26.
Beckman K, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Lichtenstein P, Larsson H, Almqvist C, Runeson B, Dahlin M (2016) Mental illness and suicide after self-harm among young adults: long-term follow-up of self-harm patients, admitted to hospital care, in a national cohort. Psychol Med 46:3397–3405CrossRefPubMed
27.
Tanner JL, Arnett JJ (2013) Approaching young adult health and medicine from a developmental perspective. Adolesc Med State Art Rev 24:485–506PubMed
28.
Singh SP, Paul M, Ford T, Kramer T, Weaver T, McLaren S, Hovish K, Islam Z, Belling R, White S (2010) Process, outcome and experience of transition from child to adult mental healthcare: multiperspective study. Br J Psychiatry 197:305–312CrossRefPubMed
29.
McNamara N, McNicholas F, Ford T, Paul M, Gavin B, Coyne I, Cullen W, O’Connor K, Ramperti N, Dooley B et al (2014) Transition from child and adolescent to adult mental health services in the Republic of Ireland: an investigation of process and operational practice. Early Interv Psychiatry 8:291–297CrossRefPubMed
30.
McNicholas F, Adamson M, McNamara N, Gavin B, Paul M, Ford T, Barry S, Dooley B, Coyne I, Cullen W, Singh SP (2015) Who is in the transition gap? Transition from CAMHS to AMHS in the Republic of Ireland. Ir J Psychol Med 32:61–69CrossRefPubMed
31.
Hawton K, Bergen H, Kapur N, Cooper J, Steeg S, Ness J, Waters K (2012) Repetition of self-harm and suicide following self-harm in children and adolescents: findings from the multicentre study of self-harm in England. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 53:1212–1219CrossRefPubMed
32.
Larkin C, Corcoran P, Perry I, Arensman E (2014) Severity of hospital-treated self-cutting and risk of future self-harm: a national registry study. J Ment Health 23:115–119CrossRefPubMed
33.
Lathi A, Harju A, Hakko H, Riala K, Räsänen P (2014) Suicide in children and young adolescents: a 25-year database on suicides from Northern Finland. J Psychiatr Res 58:123–128CrossRef
34.
Bergen H, Hawton K, Waters K, Ness J, Cooper J, Steeg S, Kapur N (2012) How do methods of non-fatal self-harm relate to eventual suicide? J Affect Disord 136:526–533CrossRefPubMed
35.
Rodway C, Tham SG, Ibrahim S, Turnbull P, Windfuhr K, Shaw J, Kapur N, Appleby L (2016) Suicide in children and young people in England: a consecutive case series. Lancet Psychiatry 3:751–759CrossRefPubMed
36.
Austin AE, van den Heuvel C, Byard RW (2011) Cluster hanging suicides in the young in South Australia. J Forensic Sci 56:1528–1530CrossRefPubMed
37.
Hawton K, Hall S, Simkin S, Bale L, Bond A, Codd S, Stewart A (2003) Deliberate self-harm in adolescents: a study of characteristics and trends in Oxford, 1990–2000. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 44:1191–1198CrossRefPubMed
38.
39.
McMahon EM, Keeley H, Cannon M, Arensman E, Perry IJ, Clarke M, Chambers D, Corcoran P (2014) The iceberg of suicide and self-harm in Irish adolescents: a population-based study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49:1929–1935CrossRefPubMed
40.
41.
Bergen H, Hawton K, Waters K, Cooper J, Kapur N (2010) Epidemiology and trends in non-fatal self-harm in three centres in England: 2000–2007. Br J Psychiatry 197:493–498CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Increasing rates of self-harm among children, adolescents and young adults: a 10-year national registry study 2007–2016
Authors
Eve Griffin
Elaine McMahon
Fiona McNicholas
Paul Corcoran
Ivan J. Perry
Ella Arensman
Publication date
01-07-2018
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 7/2018
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-018-1522-1

Other articles of this Issue 7/2018

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 7/2018 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Inhalant use in adolescents in northern Russia

Original Paper

Prevalence and risk factors of psychiatric disorders in early adolescence: 2004 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort

Original Paper

Attempting to stop antipsychotic medication: success, supports, and efforts to cope

Brief report

Baby or bathwater? Referrals of “non-cases” in a targeted early identification intervention for psychosis

Original Paper

Mental health problems and their association to violence and maltreatment in a nationally representative sample of Tanzanian secondary school students

Correction

Correction to: Prospective associations between recalled parental bonding and perinatal depression: a cohort study in urban and rural Turkey