The hospitalization rate for intentional self-harm among adolescents rose 150% over the past decade, data showed. The teen self-harm hospitalization rate exceeded that of working-age and elderly populations, and the rate among adolescent girls was more than eight times higher than among boys, prompting calls for mental health measures that account for gender-specific characteristics.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) released its "2024 Discharge Injury Statistics" Wednesday, based on an analysis of discharged patients from 250 sample hospitals nationwide. According to the statistics, the intentional self-harm hospitalization rate among adolescents aged 13 to 18 was 70 per 100,000 people last year. Compared with 28 in 2014, this marks a 150% increase over 10 years. The teen self-harm hospitalization rate surpassed both the working-age group (35) and the elderly group (41), making it the highest among all age groups by life stage.
The gender gap was also pronounced. The self-harm hospitalization rate among adolescent girls was 128 per 100,000 people, 8.5 times that of adolescent boys (15). The KDCA said it is time to raise social awareness for adolescent mental health and self-harm prevention and to develop tailored prevention measures that consider gender-specific characteristics.
Among all injury patients, falls remained the largest risk factor. Last year, 1,229,025 patients were hospitalized for injuries, accounting for 15.5% of all inpatients. The causes of injuries were falls (52.4%), transport accidents (19.4%) and collisions (10.7%), in that order.
The risk of falls was particularly high among the elderly. The fall hospitalization rate for women aged 75 and older was 6,468 per 100,000 people, 30.4 times that of girls aged 0 to 14 (213). The survey found that the rates of death and transfer to other hospitals following falls also increased with age.
The KDCA said it will strengthen prevention policies that consider life-stage characteristics and vulnerable groups, as injury patterns differ by age and gender. "Based on the scientific evidence of injury prevention and management policies, we will actively pursue effective prevention and management policies that take into account life-stage injury characteristics and vulnerable groups," KDCA Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan stressed.
