Self-Harm Events and Suicide Deaths Among Autistic Individuals in Ontario, Canada
Meng-Chuan, Saunders, Huang, Artani,Wilton, Zaheer, Ameis, Brown and Lunsky (2023)
Content Warning: Self Harm and Suicide
This article published in 2023 focuses on the sex-stratified rates of self-harm events and suicide death among autistic individuals vs nonautistic individuals and the associated sociodemographic and clinical risk factors. The method used a cohort study including 379 630 individuals regarding self-harm findings and 334 690 individuals regarding suicide death findings in Ontario, Canada. The findings showed that Autistic females had an 83% increased risk and Autistic males had a 47% increased risk of self-harm compared with nonautistic individuals when a range of variables were taken into account. Furthermore, the research suggests that autistic females had a 98% increased risk and autistic males had a 34% increased risk of suicide death, but these increases were associated with psychiatric diagnoses.