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Investigators reviewed data from the National Trauma Data Bank to identify characteristics of adolescents (10–18 years of age) who presented with self-inflicted injuries to more than 700 trauma centers from 2009 to 2012. Of about 290,000 adolescent trauma patients, 72% were male, 60% were white, and 60% were aged 15–18 years.
Overall, 3664 patients (1.3%) had self-inflicted injuries. Of these, 5% had mental health diagnoses, mostly depressive disorders. The most common methods of self-injury were cuts (more likely in females) and firearm injuries (more likely in males). Patients 10 to 14 years of age were more likely than older patients to self-injure through suffocation (15% vs. 8%).
Self-inflicted injuries increased over the 4-year study pe…