Self-harm in UK armed forces personnel: descriptive and case-control study of general hospital presentations.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about self-harm in the armed forces.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the characteristics of armed forces personnel presenting to a general hospital following self-harm and compare these with matched controls who had self-harmed.


METHODS
Investigation of armed forces personnel presenting to hospital between 1989 and 2003 following self-harm and case-control comparison with people in the general population who had self-harmed.


RESULTS
One hundred and sixty-six armed forces personnel presented with self-harm during the study period, of whom 72.3% (120) were male. Nearly two-thirds (62.7%) were aged under 25 years. Relationship problems (62.0%), employment problems (43.9%) and alcohol misuse (40.5%) were common. Fewer armed forces personnel than controls had evidence of current or past psychiatric disorders or treatment or a prior history of self-harm, and their suicidal intent was lower (males only). Of 64 people in the armed forces who presented during the first 9 years of the study period, 1 had died (from natural causes) by the end of 2000, compared with 9 (5.1%) of the controls, 6 by probable suicide.


CONCLUSIONS
Self-harm by armed forces personnel may often be a response to interpersonal and employment problems complicated by alcohol misuse, with relatively low suicide intent.
Hawton
Keith
K
Centre for Suicide Research, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. keith.hawton@psych.ox.ac.uk
Harriss
Louise
L
Casey
Deborah
D
Simkin
Sue
S
Harrison
Kate
K
Bray
Isabelle
I
Blatchley
Nick
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare; D017677:Age Distribution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult