Profile of Hospital Admissions due to Self‐Inflicted Harm in Los Angeles County from 2001 to 2010. Issue 5 (25th January 2017) - Bazargan‐Hejazi, Shahrzad
Abstract: 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.