Over the past fifteen years, the number of hospital admissions for self-harm (including attempted suicide and self-inflicted injuries) has shown markedly different trends based on age and gender.. Among young women aged 10 to 24, these admissions have risen sharply since late 2020. Conversely, for individuals aged 30 to 55, both for men and for women, the number of such admissions has steadily declined over the same period. When combined, these opposing trends result in an apparent stability in overall hospitalisation rates for self-harm. These findings in somatic care are mirrored in psychiatric hospitalisations, particularly noting the sharp increase among adolescent girls and young women in recent years. Hospital admissions for self harm are more frequent among residents of deprived areas and patients receiving social health insurance support. In départements of the Brittany region and those of the Hauts-de-France regions, hospital admission for self-harm are more frequent than in the Paris region or in the French overseas regions. The most common method of self-harm is deliberate medication overdose, followed by injuries inflicted with a sharp object. The significant rise in hospitalisations for self-harm among adolescent girls and young women since 2020 is observed across all regions of France, all levels of deprivation, all methods of self-harm, and all levels of severity. This suggests that the increase cannot be solely attributed to improved quality of hospital claim data, which is the source of this information. There has been no corresponding increase in hospital admission for self-harm among adolescent boys and young men, indicating a gender-specific phenomenon. However, this does not rule out psychological distress among young men, which may be expressed differently. Download the publication (french) Download data (french)
