The Involvement of Alcohol in Hospital-Treated Self-Harm and Associated Factors: Findings From Two National Registries
The Involvement of Alcohol in Hospital-Treated Self-Harm and Associated Factors: Findings From Two National Registries
The Involvement of Alcohol in Hospital-Treated Self-Harm and Associated Factors: Findings From Two National Registries
ABSTRACT
Background Alcohol is often involved in hospital-treated self-harm. Therefore it is important to establish the role of alcohol in self-harm as well
as to identify associated factors, in order to best inform service provision.
Methods Data on self-harm presentations to hospital emergency departments in Ireland and Northern Ireland from April 2012 to December
2013 were analysed. We calculated the prevalence of alcohol consumption in self-harm. Using Poisson regression models, we identified the
factors associated with having consumed alcohol at the time of a self-harm act.
Results Alcohol was present in 43% of all self-harm acts, and more common in Northern Ireland (50 versus 37%). The factors associated with
alcohol being involved were being male, aged between 25 and 64 years, and having engaged in a drug overdose or attempted drowning.
Presentations made out-of-hours were more likely to have alcohol present and this was more pronounced for females. Patients with alcohol on
board were also more likely to leave without having been seen by a clinician.
Conclusions This study has highlighted the prevalence of alcohol in self-harm presentations, and has identified factors associated with
presentations involving alcohol. Appropriate out-of-hours services in emergency departments for self-harm presentations could reduce the
proportion of presentations leaving without being seen by a clinician and facilitate improved outcomes for patients.
© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected] e157
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hospital-treated self-harm in these countries.8,9 This is the next care following ED attendance is recorded. The categor-
first paper to use data from two national self-harm registries ies in this variable are: admission to a general medical ward;
and the specific objectives were: admission to a psychiatric admission; patient refused admis-
sion/left without being seen by a clinician; discharged from
(i) to establish the extent to which alcohol is involved in ED following treatment.
hospital-treated self-harm in Ireland and Northern For the purposes of this study, alcohol involvement was
Ireland and defined as the intake of alcohol prior to or during the act of
(ii) to investigate what factors are associated with alcohol self-harm. The involvement of alcohol was recorded in a
being involved in self-harm acts. systematic way by the data registration officers, according to
model. Country- and gender-specific associations which Whether alcohol was involved varied according to the primary
were statistically significant in the multivariate model are method of self-harm—being more common in presentations
reported. involving attempted drowning (1.27, 1.15–1.40), self-cutting
(1.08, 1.02–1.13) or intentional drug overdose (Ireland: 1.50,
Sensitivity analysis 1.37–1.64). The association with the latter was less apparent in
Whether alcohol was recorded as being involved in the self- Northern Ireland (1.08, 1.02–1.13). In contrast, presentations
harm presentation depended on relevant information being involving self-poisoning were less likely to have alcohol involved
present in the hospital notes. Such recording fluctuates by hos- (0.77, 0.65–0.91).
Time of presentation to the ED was associated with alco-
Variable Ireland 19 831 (57.6%) Northern Ireland 14 598 (42.4%) All 34 329 (100%)
Gender
Male 9 082 (45.8%) 7 294 (50.0%) 16 376 (47.6%)
Female 10 749 (54.2%) 7 304 (50.0%) 18 053 (52.4%)
Age
<15 years 501 (2.5%) 265 (1.8%) 766 (2.2%)
a
Note: Multiple methods of self-harm may be recorded for a single presentation, therefore the figures may sum to more than 100%.
While self-harm presentations made to hospital EDs in What this study adds
Northern Ireland were more likely to involve alcohol than We found that those who consumed alcohol prior to or dur-
those in Ireland, the factors associated with alcohol con- ing the self-harm act were more likely to present out-of-hours
sumption and self-harm were similar in both countries. and were also more likely to leave the ED without being seen
Those factors identified as being associated with alcohol by a clinician. In particular we found this effect greater among
consumption were being male, aged between 25 and 64 female patients, a result which has not previously been
years and having engaged intentional drug overdose, self- reported on. This highlights the challenge of providing appro-
cutting or attempted drowning. Time of presentation to priate and timely care and treatment for self-harm patients,
the hospital was strongly associated with alcohol consump- particularly out-of-hours. Alcohol intoxication at the time of
tion, with cases involving alcohol more likely to occur out- presentation to the ED provides challenges for the assess-
side of usual working hours and at the weekend. Self-harm ment of patients, and may prolong waiting time. The ED has
patients with alcohol on board were more likely to leave now become an important option for care for patients
the ED without being seen by a clinician. engaging in suicidal behaviour, yet the availability of mental
health teams varies across hospital sites and many do not
have 24/7 or on-call access, as advocated by the NICE
What is already known on this topic guidelines,13 even though most presentations occur out-of-
There is variation in the level of alcohol involvement in self- hours. An observational study in England found that the pro-
harm acts reported in previous studies.1,6,12 Our findings are portion of patients presenting with self-harm receiving an
lower than those reported in a recent English study,7 and con- assessment by the mental health services in the ED varied
sistent with previous findings from Irish data.8 A previous from 22 to 88%14 while a recent audit conducted by the
study of self-harm in Northern Ireland highlighted the influ- Royal College of Emergency Medicine found that few hospi-
ence of alcohol on the timing of self-harm presentations to tals were meeting the target of providing patients with an
the ED9 and its findings are supported here. assessment by mental health services within 1 h of referral.15
THE INVOLVEMENT OF ALCOHOL IN HOSPITAL-TREATED SELF-HARM AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS e161
Country (ref = Ireland) 7390 (37.3%) 7247 (49.6%) 14 637 (42.5%) 1.35 (1.25–1.46) <0.001
Gender (ref = Male) 3696 (40.7%) 3938 (54.0%) 7 634 (46.6%) 1.00 Ref –
Female 3694 (34.4%) 3309 (45.3%) 7 003 (38.8%) 0.87 (0.84–0.90) <0.001
Note: Gender- and country-specific associations due to interaction are shown, where significant at P < 0.001. Analysis adjusted for the clustering in the
data associated with the inclusion of multiple presentations by self-harm repeaters.
a
The reference groups for methods variables are the cases involving other methods (e.g. for drug overdose, the reference group is cases not involving drug
overdose).
b
Cases presenting on weekdays (Monday–Friday) is the reference group.
c
Index act presentations is the reference group.
d
Presentations by residents of rural areas and towns is the reference group.
We found significantly higher levels of alcohol involve- alcohol drinking patterns within the population.16 We have pre-
ment in self-harm presentations in Northern Ireland. The viously found higher rates of self-harm in Northern Ireland9,17
observed difference in alcohol involvement in self-harm and population-based surveys have established a high inci-
between both countries may be related to differences in dence of DSM-IV disorders (particularly Post-Traumatic
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Stress Disorder) in the general population, which may nega- particular, the findings from this study have identified the
tively impact on mental health.18,19 In particular we found a factors distinguishing self-harm acts with alcohol present to
high proportion of alcohol involvement among residents of those without. Presentations by men and those made outside
Northern Ireland aged between 45 and 54 years (61%), a of normal working hours are strongly associated with alco-
group which have been exposed to the conflict in Northern hol. Furthermore, having alcohol on board is associated
Ireland. with leaving the ED without being seen by a clinician. These
The findings from this study have highlighted the role of findings underline the need for increased awareness of the
alcohol consumption in self-harm, associated with presenta- dual relationship between alcohol misuse and self-harming
tions occurring out of hours and at weekends, in particular behaviour among ED and mental health staff, as well as the