Emergency department visits for self-inflicted injuries increase among young US females

Bottom Line: Emergency department visits for self-inflicted injuries among young females increased significantly in recent years, particularly among girls 10 to 14.

Why The Research Is Interesting: Young people in the United States have high rates of nonfatal self-inflicted injuries that require medical attention; self-inflicted injury is a strong risk factor for suicide.

Who: Children, adolescents and young adults in the United States ages 10 to 24.

When: 2001-2015

What (Study Measures): Rates of emergency department visits for nonfatal self-inflicted injuries using national survey data.

How (Study Design): This is an observational study. Because researchers are not intervening for purposes of the study they cannot control natural differences that could explain study findings.

Authors: Melissa C. Mercado, Ph.D., M.Sc., M.A., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta and coauthors

Results:

Overall

• 43,138 emergency department visits for self-inflicted injury 2001-2015
• 5.7 percent annual relative increase in visits after 2008
• Poisoning the most common method of injury

Females

• 8.4 percent annual relative increase in visits from 2009-2015
• 18.8 percent annual relative increase in visits after 2009 among girls 10 to 14

Males

• Rates of visits stable 2001-2015

Study Limitations: Because the study focused on emergency department cases, rates among all youths ages 10-24 are probably underestimated.

Study Conclusions: Rates of self-injury among females appear to be increasing since 2009, a finding that points to the need for the implementation of suicide and self-harm prevention strategies within health systems and communities.

More information:
JAMA, doi:10.1001/jama.2017.13317

Provided by The JAMA Network Journals