Psychiatric disorders among adults treated for deliberate self-harm in general hospital: A national register study

Background Psychiatric disorders are common among individuals treated for deliberate self-harm (DSH) in general hospitals. However, few large-scale studies have explicitly addressed psychiatric disorders among adult DSH patients. Aim To examine the presence of psychiatric disorders among adults presenting to general hospitals following DSH, and further to establish clinical and sociodemographic determinants of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in this patient population. Method Data from several national registers were interlinked to identify all individuals aged 18 and older presenting to general hospital for DSH during the period 2008–2018. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between psychiatric disorders (ICD-10) and clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of the DSH patients. Results Altogether 39,534 subjects with 63,622 episodes of DSH were included in the study with a gender ratio (F:M) of 1.48. The majority were unmarried and had low income and education. Psychiatric disorders were present in 58.5 % of all episodes and in 54.3 % of the index episodes. Affective disorders displayed the highest prevalence (18.3 %), followed by alcohol use disorder (16.4 %). Personality disorders were highly prevalent among young females with multiple DSH episodes. Middle-aged individuals had the highest prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Presence of psychiatric disorders was significantly associated with DSH repetition. Limitations Data was restricted to variables available in the registers. Conclusions Psychiatric disorders were common among DSH patients in the present cohort, but distributed differently between the genders. DSH repetition and middle-age was associated with being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder