Country
Work Package 1
7) National Self-Harm Registry Ireland (NSHRI)
A national system monitoring hospital presenting self-harm in the Republic of Ireland (ED visits), operated by the National Suicide Research Foundation, established in 2000 and supported by the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention.
Ireland. It covers all acute public and pediatric hospital emergency departments nationwide and has achieved full national coverage since 2006.
Type of Study
This is an ongoing registry/surveillance system that provides population-based monitoring of self-harm presentations. It is not a cohort in the prospective sense, but rather a continuous register of Emergency Department (ED) events; however, researchers can conduct cohort analyses (e.g. by linking registry cases to subsequent outcomes).
Data Collection
Trained Data Registration Officers visit each of the 32 hospitals weekly to extract and pseudonymise data from Emergency Department (ED) records. The data are then transferred electronically to the NSRF offices on a weekly basis. The system uses a standardised minimum dataset, including ICD-10 coding for methods, as well as information on age, sex, residence, and other variables.
Sample Size
Approximately 12,500 selfharm presentations per year.
Sample Size Characteristics
Sample characteristics include sex, age, geographic region, area of residence, and medical card status. In research publications, data are typically stratified by age groups (e.g. children aged 8–12, adolescents 13–17, young adults 18–25, and adults 26+).
Measurement of Mental Health
The registry captures whether a mental health (psychosocial) assessment was conducted as part of care following presentation, including its timing (in-hours vs. out-of-hours). However, it does not include direct measures of wellbeing, quality of life, or social indicators. Instead, it records the occurrence of assessments, clinical methods used, and recommended subsequent care pathways.
Data collected include:
- Type of self-harm (coded in the NSHRI database using WHO ICD-10 classifications for intentional self-injury).
- Mode of arrival at the hospital.
- Date and time of arrival.
- Type of treatment received.
Cohort Profile Available
No. Data dictionary is available.
Key Publications
- McEvoy D et al. Comparing times of self-harm presentations to hospital emergency departments in children, adolescents, young adults and adults: a national registry study 2007-2019. BMC Psychiatry, Volume 24, Issue 1, Jun 2024, DOI:10.1186/s12888-024-05921-x.
- Griffin E et al. Suicide risk following hospital attendance with self-harm: a national cohort study in Ireland. Nat. Mental Health, Volume 1, 982–989, 2023, DOI:10.1038/s44220-023-00153-6.
- Troya M I et al. Hospital-presenting self-harm among older adults living in Ireland: a 13-year trend analysis from the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland. Int Psychogeriatr, Volume 36, Issue 5, 396-404, May 2024, DOI:10.1017/S1041610223000856.
- White P et al. The burden of attempted hanging and drowning presenting to hospitals in Ireland between 2007 and 2019: a national registry-based study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. Volume 59, Issue 2, 235-244, Feb 2024 . DOI:10.1007/s00127-023-02525-w.
Open Access
No. The full data dictionary is publicly available on the NSRF/NSHRI website. Access to person-level or linked data requires reasonable request, ethical approval, and collaboration.
Contact For Collaboration and Possible Access
For data access and collaboration, the National Suicide Research Foundation is the data custodian. Requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis, with necessary ethical approvals and GDPR compliance.