Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;58(6):883-891.
doi: 10.1007/s00127-023-02439-7. Epub 2023 Feb 17.

Presentations of self-harm and suicide-related ideation among the Irish Traveller indigenous population to hospital emergency departments: evidence from the National Clinical Programme for self-harm

Katerina Kavalidou  1   2 , Caroline Daly  3 , Niall McTernan  3 , Paul Corcoran  3   4
Affiliations

Presentations of self-harm and suicide-related ideation among the Irish Traveller indigenous population to hospital emergency departments: evidence from the National Clinical Programme for self-harm

Katerina Kavalidou et al. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Previous research has examined the suicide risk of the Irish Traveller population, but less is known about self-harm and suicidal ideation among this ethnic minority group, which are established risk factors for suicide. The aim of the current study was to compare the presentation-based self-harm and suicide-related ideation of Traveller to non-Traveller patients and describe any ethnic disparities in the aftercare of their presentation.

Methods: Data were obtained from the service improvement database of an Irish dedicated national programme for the assessment of those presenting to emergency departments (EDs) due to self-harm and suicide-related ideation. Presentation data from 24 EDs were analysed and Poisson regression was used to assess the age-sex-adjusted relative risk of hospital-presenting self-harm and suicide-related ideation.

Results: 24,473 presentations were recorded with 3% of the presentations made by Irish Travellers. Female Traveller patients had 3·04 (95% CI 2·51-3·68) higher risk for suicide-related ideation and 3·85 (95% CI 3·37-4·41) for self-harm, compared to white Irish female patients. Male Traveller patients had 4·46 (95% CI 3·86-5·16) higher risk for suicide-related ideation and 5·43 (95% CI 4·75-6·21) higher rates for self-harm. The highest rate ratios for self-harm were observed among older Traveller patients [male: 9·23 (95% CI 5·93-14·39); female: 6·79 (95% CI 4·37-10·57)]. A higher proportion of Traveller patients requested no next of kin involvement, compared to other ethnicities.

Conclusions: Given that Irish Travellers are at higher risk of self-harm and suicide-related ideation presentations compared to other ethnic groups, EDs should be viewed as an important suicide intervention point.

Keywords: Hospital; Ireland; Irish Traveller; Minority; Self-harm; Suicidal ideation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Pollock NJ, Naicker K, Loro A, Mulay S, Colman I (2018) Global incidence of suicide among Indigenous peoples: a systematic review. BMC Med 16(1):145. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1115-6 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Gov.ie (2017) Statement by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD on the recognition of Travellers as an ethnic group, Dáil Éireann. https://www.gov.ie/en/speech/d29014-statement-by-an-taoiseach-enda-kenny... Accessed 10 Mar 2022
    1. CSO (2016) Profile of Irish Travellers, Ethnicity and Religion. Central Statistics Office. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp8iter/p8iter/p8itd/ . Accessed 15 Oct 2021
    1. Gilbert E, Carmi S, Ennis S, Wilson JF, Cavalleri GL (2017) Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers. Sci Rep 7:42187. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep42187 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. CSO (2012) Life Expectancy Tables. Central Statistics Office. https://www.cso.ie/en/interactivezone/statisticsexplained/birthsdeathsan... . Accessed 15 October 2021

LinkOut - more resources