Risk factors for dementia and self-harm: A linkage study.
People living with dementia experience poor mental health and high rates of self-harm. We investigated risk factors for self-harm in people aged > 40 years living with dementia and risk factors for dementia after self-harm.
Using linked hospital data from New South Wales, Australia, we defined a dementia cohort (n = 154,811) and a self-harm cohort (n = 28,972). Using survival analyses, we investigated predictors of self-harm for the dementia cohort, and predictors of dementia for the self-harm cohort.
We found self-harm or dementia diagnoses occurred most often within 24 months of a dementia diagnosis or initial self-harm presentation, respectively. Men living with dementia, and people with complex psychiatric profiles, had the greatest risk of self-harm. Men who had self-harmed had the greatest risk of dementia diagnoses.
Men and people with complex psychiatric profiles and dementia may particularly benefit from post-diagnosis mental and behavioral support to reduce risk of self-harm.
Walker AR
,Srasuebkul P
,Trollor JN
,Wand APF
,Draper B
,Cvejic RC
,Moxey A
,Reppermund S
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The survival and characteristics of older people with and without dementia who are hospitalised following intentional self-harm.
Characteristics of older people with and without dementia who are hospitalised following self-harm remains largely unexplored. This research compares the characteristics of older people with and without dementia who self-harm, compares associations of mental health-related diagnoses with those hospitalised for a self-harm and a non-self-harm injury and examines mortality by injury intent.
A population-based study of individuals aged 50+ years with and without dementia admitted to hospital for a self-harm injury (and those with other injuries) using linked hospital admission and mortality records during 2003-2012 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Health outcomes, including hospital length of stay (LOS), 28-day readmission and 30-day and 12-month mortality were examined by dementia status.
There were 427 hospitalisations of individuals with dementia and 11,684 hospitalisations of individuals without dementia following self-harm. The hospitalisation rate for self-harm for individuals with dementia aged 60+ years was double the rate for individuals without dementia (72.2 and 37.5 per 100,000). For both older people with and without dementia, those who self-harmed were more likely to have co-existent mental health and alcohol use disorders than individuals who had a non-self-harm injury. Individuals with dementia had higher 12-month mortality rates, 28-day readmission and longer LOS than individuals without dementia.
Dementia is associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation for self-harm in older people and worse outcomes. The high rate of coexistent mental health conditions suggests that interventions which reduce behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia might reduce self-harm in people with dementia. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mitchell R
,Draper B
,Harvey L
,Brodaty H
,Close J
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Self-harm in prisons in England and Wales: an epidemiological study of prevalence, risk factors, clustering, and subsequent suicide.
Self-harm and suicide are common in prisoners, yet robust information on the full extent and characteristics of people at risk of self-harm is scant. Furthermore, understanding how frequently self-harm is followed by suicide, and in which prisoners this progression is most likely to happen, is important. We did a case-control study of all prisoners in England and Wales to ascertain the prevalence of self-harm in this population, associated risk factors, clustering effects, and risk of subsequent suicide after self-harm.
Records of self-harm incidents in all prisons in England and Wales were gathered routinely between January, 2004, and December, 2009. We did a case-control comparison of prisoners who self-harmed and those who did not between January, 2006, and December, 2009. We also used a Bayesian approach to look at clustering of people who self-harmed. Prisoners who self-harmed and subsequently died by suicide in prison were compared with other inmates who self-harmed.
139,195 self-harm incidents were recorded in 26,510 individual prisoners between 2004 and 2009; 5-6% of male prisoners and 20-24% of female inmates self-harmed every year. Self-harm rates were more than ten times higher in female prisoners than in male inmates. Repetition of self-harm was common, particularly in women and teenage girls, in whom a subgroup of 102 prisoners accounted for 17,307 episodes. In both sexes, self-harm was associated with younger age, white ethnic origin, prison type, and a life sentence or being unsentenced; in female inmates, committing a violent offence against an individual was also a factor. Substantial evidence was noted of clustering in time and location of prisoners who self-harmed (adjusted intra-class correlation 0·15, 95% CI 0·11-0·18). 109 subsequent suicides in prison were reported in individuals who self-harmed; the risk was higher in those who self-harmed than in the general prison population, and more than half the deaths occurred within a month of self-harm. Risk factors for suicide after self-harm in male prisoners were older age and a previous self-harm incident of high or moderate lethality; in female inmates, a history of more than five self-harm incidents within a year was associated with subsequent suicide.
The burden of self-harm in prisoners is substantial, particularly in women. Self-harm in prison is associated with subsequent suicide in this setting. Prevention and treatment of self-harm in prisoners is an essential component of suicide prevention in prisons.
Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health Research, National Offender Management Service, and Department of Health.
Hawton K
,Linsell L
,Adeniji T
,Sariaslan A
,Fazel S
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