ArticleThe Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry2023
Growth in emergency department self-harm or suicidal ideation presentations in young people: Comparing trends before and since the COVID-19 first wave in New South Wales, Australia.
Article in The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research Review: Sex differences in the clinical correlates of nonsuicidal self-injury in adolescents - a systematic review.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Pooled it
- Motivations for Self-Harm in Young People and Their Correlates: A Systematic Review.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Evidence-based long term interventions targeting acute mental health presentations for children and adolescents: systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Multilevel risk and protective factors for self-harm, suicidal ideation and suicide attempt in adolescents.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Incidence trends and clinical management of self-harm in adolescents and young adults in catalonia: primary care cohort study (2013-2022).European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Perceptions and attitudes of emergency department nurses toward artificial intelligence applications in triage: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Associations between COVID-19 pandemic experiences and suicidal ideation among adolescents: the mediating role of life satisfaction, subjective wellbeing, and anxiety.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Mental health and substance use conditions among emerging adults in Australia 2020-2022: Prevalence, severity and psychosocial correlates within geographic regions.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- How can school staff respond to student incidents of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours? A systematic scoping review.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Perspectives from Young Australian Women with Lived Experience on Why Rates of Self-Harm Are Increasing: A Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- The risk of death after hospitalisation following intentional self-poisoning: a retrospective observational study (PAVLOVA-2).The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Observational
- How do Australian social media users experience self-harm and suicide-related content? A National cross-sectional survey comparing young people and adults.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The use of co-design with young people for digital mental health support development: A systematic review.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Interventions for self-harm and suicidality in paediatric emergency departments: a meta-review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Review
- Characteristics of Self-Harm in an Emergency Situation Among Youth: A Longitudinal Five- Year Cohort Study.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
- Paediatric Emergency Department Mental Health and Behavioural Presentations in Australia Before and After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Observational Study.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2025Observational
- Article
- Sociodemographic Factors and Presentation Features of Individuals Seeking Mental Health Care in Emergency Departments: A Retrospective Cohort Study.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Article
- Youth suicidality risk relative to ambient temperature and heatwaves across climate zones: A time series analysis of emergency department presentations in New South Wales, Australia.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- 'We tried our best... it wasn't great': a qualitative study of clinician experiences on child psychiatry wards at the height of COVID-19.BMC health services research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSelf-harm presentations in children and young people have increased internationally over the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to worsen these trends.
objectiveTo describe trends in emergency department self-harm or suicidal ideation presentations for children and young people in New South Wales before and since the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsWe studied presentations for self-harm or suicidal ideation by 10- to 24-year-olds to New South Wales emergency departments, using interrupted time series analysis to compare annualised growth before COVID (2015 to February 2020) and since COVID (March 2020 to June 2021). Subgroup analyses compared age group, gender, triage category, rurality and disadvantage. Time series decomposition via generalised additive models identified long-term, seasonal and short-term trends.
resultsSelf-harm or suicidal ideation presentations by young people in New South Wales increased by 8.4% per annum pre-COVID. Growth accelerated since COVID, to 19.2% per annum, primarily due to increased presentations by females aged 13-17 years (47.1% per annum since COVID, from 290 per 10,000 in 2019 to 466 per 10,000 in 2021). Presentations in males aged 10-24 years did not increase since COVID (105.4 per 10,000 in 2019, 109.8 per 10,000 in 2021) despite growing 9.9% per annum before COVID. Presentation rates accelerated significantly in socio-economically advantaged areas. Presentations in children and adolescents were strongly linked to school semesters.
conclusionEmergency department self-harm or suicidal ideation presentations by New South Wales young people grew steadily before COVID. Understanding the sustained increase remains a priority. Growth has increased since COVID particularly for adolescent females, but not among adolescent males. Surprisingly, the largest post-COVID increases in annual growth occurred in socio-economically advantaged and urban regions. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have added new challenges, particularly in females in the developmentally critical early adolescent and teenage years.
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