Premature Death Is a Real Risk for Those Who Harm Themselves

Following a study of more than 30,000 individuals in the United Kingdom, conducted between 2000 and 2007, experts at the University of Oxford found that people who harm themselves are three times more likely to die prematurely.

In a paper detailing the findings, published in the latest issue of the journal The Lancet, the team says that the research was focused on patients who arrived at emergency rooms around the country, and were treated for self-poisoning, or self-injury.

Of the people the team analyzed, 1,832 died over the course of the next six years. Suicides, accidental poisonings, and other accidents, alongside natural causes, accounted for most of these deaths. Oddly enough, accidental poisonings led the way, PsychCentral reports.

“Our study confirms that the increase in premature death among people who self-harm is not limited to suicide or other external causes, but includes dying prematurely from a wide variety of natural causes such as diseases of the circulatory and digestive systems,” the team explains.

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Via: Premature Death Is a Real Risk for Those Who Harm Themselves