Suicide by self-inflicted burns - A persistent psychiatric problem. 2023

Jordan M Smith, and Jeffrey R Fine, and Kathleen S Romanowski, and Soman Sen, and Tina L Palmieri, and David G Greenhalgh
School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, USA.

Self-inflicted burns are a relatively uncommon but profound attempt at suicide. Twenty years ago, we first reviewed our experience with self-inflicted burns. With this current study, we sought to determine whether there had been any change in the incidence or outcomes of self-inflicted burns. All burn patients admitted between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2021, with self-inflicted burns were compared with all other admissions. The frequency of self-inflicted burns and confounding risk factors of patients with self-inflicted burns remained unchanged. A large proportion (87.4 %) of the patients had psychiatric disease. They also had larger burns and higher mortality than accidental burns. Unexpectedly, logistic regression analysis that controlled for age, total percent total body surface area (TBSA) burn, sex, and inhalation injury revealed that those patients with self-inflicted burns had 72 % lower odds of dying than the general population. In conclusion, there has been no improvement in the incidence of self-inflicted burns. They result in very severe injuries, but when age, burn size, gender, and inhalation injury are controlled for, they have at least as good a chance for survival as the general burn population.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D002056 Burns Injuries to tissues caused by contact with heat, steam, chemicals (BURNS, CHEMICAL), electricity (BURNS, ELECTRIC), or the like. Burn
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001523 Mental Disorders Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function. Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D012189 Retrospective Studies Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons. Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective
D013405 Suicide The act of killing oneself. Suicides
D016728 Self-Injurious Behavior Behavior in which persons hurt or harm themselves without the motive of suicide or of sexual deviation. Intentional Self Harm,Intentional Self Injury,Self Harm,Self-Destructive Behavior,Deliberate Self-Harm,Non-Suicidal Self Injury,Nonsuicidal Self Injury,Self-Injury,Behavior, Self-Destructive,Behavior, Self-Injurious,Deliberate Self Harm,Harm, Self,Intentional Self Injuries,Non Suicidal Self Injury,Non-Suicidal Self Injuries,Nonsuicidal Self Injuries,Self Destructive Behavior,Self Harm, Intentional,Self Injurious Behavior,Self Injury,Self Injury, Intentional,Self Injury, Non-Suicidal,Self Injury, Nonsuicidal,Self-Destructive Behaviors,Self-Harm, Deliberate,Self-Injurious Behaviors

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