Behavioural risk factor burden for suicide and self-inflicted injuries update

The following summary is based on data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) from the National Suicide and Self-Harm Monitoring System (the System). The System was established as part of the national effort to address suicide and self-harm in Australia by improving the quality, accessibility and timeliness of data on deaths by suicide and on self-harming and suicidal behaviours.

For guidance on reporting on suicide and self-harm data, please refer to the Mindframe quick reference guide.

Released by AIHW on Wednesday, 6 April 2023

The National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System’s ‘Behavioural risk factor burden for suicide and self-inflicted injuries’ page has been updated based on the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2022. Data is available for this study from 2003, 2011, 2015, and 2018, with estimates produced for 2019 and 2022. The report estimates the impact of people dying prematurely by suicide and the direct health impacts on individuals living with injury due to self-harm.

‘Burden of disease’ analysis measures the impact of living with illness or injury and dying prematurely. The method uses a summary measure ‘disability-adjusted life years’ (DALY) to determine the years of healthy life lost by combining premature death (‘years of life lost’ [YLL]) with ‘years lived with disability’ (YLD).

In 2022, suicide and self-inflicted injuries led to a total estimated 159,200 total YLL. This was the second highest impact of any cause of death. Approximately 121,200 YLL were lost to suicide and self-inflicted injuries among men and 38,000 YLL among women.

At an individual level, in 2018, the average YLL per person to suicide and self-inflicted injuries was 42.1 years.

When examining risk factors, childhood abuse and neglect has consistently contributed to the greatest number of years of healthy life lost due to suicide and self-inflicted injuries throughout the study years for both men and women.