Risk of suicide and mortality

People who attend hospital following self-harm are much more likely to go on to die by suicide compared to people in the general population.

Based on Manchester self-harm data alone, previous research found that people who attended the emergency department for self-harm were 20 times more likely to die by suicide (Cooper et al, 2005).

National estimates are even higher, with people who attend hospital for self-harm being nearly 50 times more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population (Hawton et al, 2015).

Self-harm and mortality

Around half of all people who die by suicide have a history of self-harm. But along with death by suicide, people who self-harm also have an increased risk of dying early from other causes, including natural causes.

The chart below shows life expectancy (with year on the x-axis, life expectancy in 10-year intervals on the y-axis) in men who self-harm compared to men in the general population.

The darker, shorter part of the columns indicate life expectancy for men who self-harm, while the remaining lighter colour part of each columns represents additional life expectancy for men in the general population

The reduction in life expectancy is around 30-40 years. (Bergen et al, 2012)