Nearly half of the fatalities from injuries last year were attributed to self-harm and suicide. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – In its 2023 National Injury Surveillance Report, released on Friday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency revealed that nearly half of the fatalities from injuries last year were attributed to self-harm and suicide.
Approximately 75 percent of individuals with substance addiction had intentions related to self-harm or suicide.
Injuries encompass health issues, both physical and mental, resulting from intentional or unintentional accidents.
According to the agency, the rate of injury-related deaths per 100,000 people was 52.1 last year. Among these, close to half committed suicide.
The newly released cause-of-death statistics reveal an alarming rise in the rate of self-harm and suicide among injury-related deaths, increasing from 37.7 percent (23.9 out of 63.4 individuals) in 2004 to 48.4 percent in the past year.
A detailed examination of emergency room patients who experienced injuries due to self-harm attempts showed that the age group with the highest incidence was 25 to 34 years old (2,744 individuals), followed by those aged 15 to 24 (1,786 individuals).
These young adults (4,530 individuals) accounted for 46.2 percent of all emergency room visits related to self-harm attempts (9,813 cases).
When segmented by gender, women outnumbered men in all age groups, excluding the population aged 65 and above.
The primary reasons cited for self-harm or suicide attempts were mental health issues (44.1 percent), conflicts with family and friends (25.5 percent), health problems (7 percent), and workplace or school-related issues (5.3 percent).
The hospitalization rate due to addiction to drugs containing narcotic elements or toxic substances decreased from 47 per 100,000 people in 2004 to 42 in 2021.
Except for the population aged 65 and above, emergency room visits due to addiction were particularly high in the age groups of 15 to 24 (1,753 individuals), 25 to 34 (1,287 individuals), and 40 to 45 (1,014 individuals), with 74.5 percent of addicted patients having self-harm or suicide as their primary motivation.
In total, there were 193,384 emergency room visits for individuals with injuries encompassing self-harm, suicide attempts, and addiction in the past year.
The leading causes were falls (36.8 percent), collisions (19.5 percent), and traffic accidents (13.5 percent).
Of the injured individuals visiting emergency rooms, 15.9 percent were admitted, and 1.4 percent succumbed to their injuries.
For the elderly population aged 75 and above, 37.2 percent were admitted, and 3.9 percent were unable to recover from their injuries.
Lee Kang Hyun, the dean of Yonsei University’s Wonju College of Medicine, highlighted the lack of comprehensive legislation regulating injury prevention and management. He pointed out, “There is currently no overarching law regulating injury prevention and management. Various agencies independently manage and control injuries in a fragmented manner through individual laws.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
