Anum Misbah Hasanat, Fareed Aslam Minhas.
Deliberate self-harm presenting to a tertiary care teaching hospital in Pakistan: methods and clinical features.
J Pak Psych Soc Jan ;10(2):81-5.

Objectives: To study the socio-demographic profile, the circumstances leading to self harm (DSH) and presence of any psychiatric illness in patients presenting to Accident and Emergency (A&E) Departments of RMC allied hospitals in Rawalpindi with attempt of DSH Design: Descriptive study Place and Duration of study: A&E departments of RMC allied hospitals in Rawalpindi in six months, from 1st November 2008 to 30th April 2009. Subjects and Methods: All patients with deliberate self harm presenting to A&E departments of RMC allied hospitals in Rawalpindi who met inclusion criteria during the study duration were included in the study. Results: Out of 386 participants, (52.1%) were males (47.9%) were females. The mean age of participants was 25.50 years. 89.1% patients had self poisoned themselves, 10.4% had done self injury and 2 patients had attempted both when presented to hospital. Organophosphorus poison was most commonly used substance for self poisoning used in 41.4% of cases. In cases of self harm, 64.3% had presented with lacerations and 11.9% with hanging. 4.1% patients had a previous history of physical illness and 3.4% patients were suffering from a physical illness at time of presentation. 4.4% patients had a past psychiatric history. 3.6% patients were suffering from a psychiatric illness at the time of presentation. 6.2% patients had attempted DSH in the past. Substance abuse was found in 8.0% of patients. Family history of DSH or suicide was found in 3.9% patients. Conclusions: Among patients with DSH in A&E department male presented more than the females. Mean age belonged to about 25 years, mostly coming from low socio economic group. Self poisoning is the most commonly used method. Past history of DSH was found to be the major risk factor for future attempts.

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