A Hospital-Based Study on Trends in Deliberate Self-Harm in Children and Adolescents

In this letter to the editor, the authors discuss children & adolescents who were admitted to the Teaching Hospital in Karapitiya (Sri Lanks) following deliberate self-harm. Admissions for deliberate self-harm increased by 91% from 2001 to 2007 with girls accounting for most of this increase. Admissions for deliberate self-harm increased consistently with age. Admissions after overdose of medicine increased dramatically over the study period with admissions due to paracetamol overdoses increasing five-fold. This increase in hospital admissions after deliberate self-harm among adolescents & children is in contrast to the decline in suicide rates reported nationally. (4 refs.)