Intentional self-harm and assault hospitalisations and treatment cost of children in Australia over a 10-year period
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the magnitude, 10-year temporal trends and treatment cost of intentional injury hospitalisations of children aged ≤16 years in Australia. METHOD: A retrospective examination of linked hospitalisation and mortality data for children aged ≤16 years during 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2012 with self-harm or assault injuries. Negative binomial regression examined temporal trends. RESULTS: There were 18,223 self-harm and 13,877 assault hospitalisations, with a treatment cost of $64 million and $60.6 million, respectively. The self-harm hospitalisation rate was 59.8 per 100,000 population (95%CI 58.96-60.71) with no annual decrease. The assault hospitalisation rate was 29.9 per 100,000 population (95%CI 29.39-30.39) with a 4.2% annual decrease (95%CI -6.14- -2.31, p<0.0001). Poisoning was the most common method of self-harm. Other maltreatment syndromes were common for children ≤5 years of age. Assault by bodily force was common for children aged 6-16 years. CONCLUSIONS: Health professionals can play a key role in identifying and preventing the recurrence of intentional injury. Psychosocial care and access to support services are essential for self-harmers. Parental education interventions to reduce assaults of children and training in conflict de-escalation to reduce child peer-assaults are recommended. Implications for public health: Australia needs a whole-of-government and community approach to prevent intentional injury.
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Studies in Australia, Canada, the UK and USA indicate that rises in suicide in young people have occurred in parallel with other signals of deteriorating youth mental health, including rises in self-reported depression symptoms, suicide attempts and hospital admissions for self-harm.
“Studies in Australia, Canada, the UK and USA indicate that the rises in suicide in young people have occurred in parallel with other signals of deteriorating youth mental health, including rises in self-reported depression symptoms, suicide attempts and hospital admissions for self-harm (McManus et al., 2016; Mitchell et al., 2018; Twenge et al., 2019; Wiens et al., 2020).”
From Social media use, economic recession and income inequality in relation to trends in youth suicide in high-income countries: a time trends analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Mitchell et al., 2018
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- Authors
- Mitchell, R. J., Seah, R., Ting, H. P., Curtis, K., & Foster, K.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Mitchell, Rebecca J
- Venue
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-06
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 240-246
- ISSN
- 1326-0200 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2791454008
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 3.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Day of Difference Foundation
- NSW Ministry of Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Keywords
- intentional injury, hospitalization rates, treatment costs, temporal trends, poisoning, child abuse, injury prevention, psychosocial care, parental education intervention, conflict de-escalation, Australia
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Australia, Child, Female, Hospitalization, Humans, Male, Retrospective Studies, Self-Injurious Behavior, Health Care Costs
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