Physical injuries as triggers for self-harm: a within-individual study of nearly 250 000 injured people with a major psychiatric disorder

Background

Although there is robust evidence for several factors which may precipitate self-harm, the contributions of different physical injuries are largely unknown.

Objective

To examine whether specific physical injuries are associated with risks of self-harm in people with psychiatric disorders.

Methods

By using population and secondary care registers, we identified all people born in Finland (1955–2000) and Sweden (1948–1993) with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (n=136 182), bipolar disorder (n=68 437) or depression (n=461 071). Falls, transport-related injury, traumatic brain injury and injury from interpersonal assault were identified within these subsamples. We used conditional logistic regression models adjusted for age and calendar month to compare self-harm risk in the week after each injury to earlier weekly control periods, which allowed us to account for unmeasured confounders, including genetics and early environments.

Findings

A total of 249 210 individuals had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and a physical injury during the follow-up. The absolute risk of self-harm after a physical injury ranged between transport-related injury and injury from interpersonal assault (averaging 17.4–37.0 events per 10 000 person-weeks). Risk of self-harm increased by a factor of two to three (adjusted OR: 2.0–2.9) in the week following a physical injury, as compared with earlier, unexposed periods for the same individuals.

Conclusions

Physical injuries are important proximal risk factors for self-harm in people with psychiatric disorders.

Clinical implications

Mechanisms underlying the associations could provide treatment targets. When treating patients with psychiatric illnesses, emergency and trauma medical services should actively work in liaison with psychiatric services to implement self-harm prevention strategies.