Facts & Statistics

• Accurate information about rates and trends of self-harm are difficult to obtain since the majority of people who engage in self-harm conceal their injuries and may never come into contact with medical or other services as a result of their self-harming behaviours.
• The available self-harm data is based on instances of ‘hospitalised self-harm’ and therefore reflect those cases in which individuals were admitted to hospital for treatment during a financial year period – it does not capture those who have been attended to in emergency departments or by general practitioners. As a result, contrary to conceptual agreement that self-harm is a significant issue in its own right, the major sources of Australian data reflect hospital admissions and refer to self-inflicted harm where the intention may or may not have been to die.ⁱ
• Despite some of the complexities involved in the data collection practices on self-harm, the available information is useful for a number of reasons. First these data make it possible to look at patterns (by gender, age, etc.) and trends in self-harm. Second, while it is very difficult to measure the severity of self-harm cases, it can be inferred that the majority of severe cases would be admitted to hospital (other than those who die prior to hospitalisation).ⁱⁱ
• Further note on interpreting statistics - The number of hospitalised self-harm cases recorded in any one year is affected by a range of factors including admission and treatment practices across Australia’s health system and the categories used to classify reasons for hospitalisation. Further, determining whether or not some forms of injury were due to intentional self-harm can be very difficult (e.g., transport accidents or near drowning). Care must be taken when making use of these data.
  

Number of cases:

• In 2003-04, there were 24,087 cases of hospitalised self-harm (115.4 cases per 100,000 people in Australia). The number of hospitalised self-harm cases in 2003-04 is fairly similar to the number of cases recorded in 2001-02 (22,530).
• 7% of all hospital admissions due to injury and poisoning in 2003-04 were due to self-harm. Slightly fewer (6.8%) were due to self-harm in 2001-02.
• The age-standardised rate for hospitalised self-harm in Queensland and the Northern Territory were similar to the national age-standardised rate. New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT had rates below the national rate, with ACT being the lowest (83 cases per 100,000). South Australia and Tasmania had rates above the national rate with Tasmania having the highest (169 cases per 100,000).

Differences by gender:

• In 2003-04 more females than males were admitted to hospital due to self-harm injuries. Females accounted for 62% of hospitalised self-harm cases in that year (i.e., 14,228 female and 8,722 male cases).
• The total number of patient days in hospital due to self-harm was 61,220 days in 2003-04. On average, each case of self-harm resulted in 2.7 days in hospital. The average length of stay was somewhat higher for males (3.0 days) than females (2.4 days).

 Differences by age:

• Three-quarters of all intentional self-harm cases were aged from 15 to 44 years (28% were aged 15 to 24 years and 47% were aged 25 to 44 years). The 0 to 14 and 65+ age groups comprised 2.6% and 3.7% respectively of all intentional self-harm cases.
• In 2003-04 the number of hospitalised self-harm cases peaked for females at the age of 15 to 19 years. The age-specific rate for females in this age group was 397 per 100,000 – this is over three times the rate for males aged 15 to 19 years (122 per 100,000).
• The average length of stay in hospital due to self-harm was highest among older age groups. In 2003-04, the average length of stay in hospital due to self-harm rose to 6.6 days for those aged 65 years and over and peaked at 10 days for those 85 years and over.

• In 2005−06, there were 7,299 hospitalisations of young people due to intentional self-harm -
  a rate of 197 per 100,000 young people.
  
• Between 1996−97 and 2005−06, the hospitalisation rate for intentional self-harm among young people increased by 43%, from 138 per 100,000 young people to 197.
  
• The percentage increase was greater among females than males (51% compared with 27%), and the female rate was consistently at least twice as high as for males over this period (2.5 times in 2005–06).
  
• In 2005–06, the hospitalisation rate for young females was highest among those aged 15−17 years (426 per 100,000 young females, which was 3.5 and 1.5 times that for 12 -14 year old and 18–24 year old females, respectively). Among young males, the rate increased with age (from 21 to 163 per 100,000 12–14 year old and 18−24 year old males, respectively).

[iii] Eldrige, D. (2008). Injury among young Australians. AIWH bulletin series no. 60. Cat. no. AUS 102. Canberra: AIWH.