National Estimates of Emergency Department Visits for Medication-related Self-harm—United States, 2016–2019

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Inj Prev
• Personal Author:
  Geller, Andrew I. ; Ehlman, Daniel C. ; Lovegrove, Maribeth C. ; Budnitz, Daniel S.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Medication poisoning is a common form of self-harm injury, and increases in injuries due to self-harm, including suicide attempts, have been reported over the last two decades.
  
  Methods:
  
  Cross-sectional (2016–2019) data from sixty emergency departments (EDs) participating in an active, nationally-representative public health surveillance system were analyzed and United States national estimates of ED visits for medication-related self-harm injuries were calculated.
  
  Results:
  
  Based on 18,074 surveillance cases, there were an estimated 269,198 (95% confidence interval [CI], 222,059–316,337) ED visits for medication-related self-harm injuries annually in 2016–2019 compared with 1,404,090 visits annually from therapeutic use of medications. Population rates of medication-related self-harm ED visits were highest among persons aged 11–19 years (58.5 [95% CI, 45.0–72.0] per 10,000), and lowest among those aged ≥65 years (6.6 [95% CI, 4.4–8.8] per 10,000). Among persons aged 11–19 years, the ED visit rate for females was four times that for males (95.4 [95% CI, 74.2–116.7] versus 23.0 [95% CI, 16.4–29.6] per 10,000). Medical or psychiatric admission was required for three-quarters (75.1%; 95% CI, 70.0%-80.2%) of visits. Concurrent use of alcohol or illicit substances was documented in 40.2% (95% CI, 36.8%-43.7%) of visits, and multiple medication products were implicated in 38.6% (95% CI, 36.8%-40.4%). The most frequently implicated medication categories varied by patient age.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Medication-related self-harm injuries are an important contributor to the overall burden of ED visits and hospitalizations for medication-related harm, with the highest rates among adolescent and young adult females. These findings support continued prevention efforts targeting patients at risk for self-harm.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Cross-Sectional Studies Emergency Service, Hospital Female Hospitalization Humans Male Self-Injurious Behavior Suicide, Attempted United States Young Adult

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• Source:
  Inj Prev. 28(6):545-552
• Pubmed ID:
  35922136
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10249045
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  28
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fc6f3bcbc9b025e6b1350b9cf6b4297d927c70b1468e1fe1fad444d4fe99372482c36622d3fc32fb278c9b50256e2b0887cd5d9334325ce2fe8d8f67ad7e9aa9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/129649/cdc_129649_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 208.50 KB ]