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Profile of Hospital Admissions due to Self‐Inflicted Harm in Los Angeles County from 2001 to 2010
Author(s) -
BazarganHejazi Shahrzad,
Ahmadi Alireza,
Bazargan Mohsen,
Rahmani Elham,
Pan Deyu,
Zahmatkesh Golara,
Teruya Stacey
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.13416
Subject(s) - ethnic group , medicine , demography , suicide prevention , poison control , psychiatry , injury prevention , harm , occupational safety and health , emergency medicine , psychology , social psychology , pathology , sociology , anthropology
We aimed to describe the demographic profile of self‐inflicted harm ( SIH ) in Los Angeles County between 2001 and 2010 and to investigate trends over this 10‐year period. We used the California Hospital Discharge Data to investigate all cases of hospital admission due to SIH , including suicide attempts and if they had a concurrent psychiatric diagnosis based on ICD ‐9 codes. African‐Americans ( AA ) had the highest 10‐year SIH admission rates. SIH admission rates remained steady throughout the 10‐year study period. Median age of SIH was significantly lower in Latinos. Episodic mood disorders were the most common psychiatric comorbidity. The use of solid/liquid poisoning was the most common SIH method among all racial/ethnic groups. We found major disparities in SIH admissions across racial/ethnic subgroups. The importance of programs to identify, prevent, and treat SIH in these groups is discussed.