PEOPLE in Derry city are more likely to self-harm than anywhere else in the north or Britain, a health report has warned.
The annual report by Dr Michael McBride, the chief medical officer for Northern Ireland, placed Derry second only to Limerick for rates of self-harm in cities across Britain and Ireland.
The figures covered a five-year period from 2007-12 for those aged 15 and over.
Derry had 623 incidents of self-harm per 100,000 people, compared to 563 in Belfast and 358 in Dublin.
The most common age for women to self-harm was among 15-19 year olds, while for men it was in the group aged 20 to 24.
Between April 2013 and March 2014 there were almost 8,500 self-harm incidents handled by emergency departments across the north involving approximately 6,000 people.
Alcohol was involved in almost half of cases.
The report also shows that for those under 16 years old there was a 14.4% increase in incidents of self-harm in 2013/14 compared to the previous year.
Dr McBride said: "While we can legislate to reduce the risk and exposure of young people to harmful substances, when the stresses that they face are manifest in self-harming behaviour, other solutions are needed.
"To help us appreciate the extent of this behaviour, we have introduced a self-harm registry for Northern Ireland to gather and analyse information and provide a linkage to self-harm intervention services."
Dr McBride added: "The second annual regional report from the self-harm registry in Northern Ireland was published in early 2015. It shows that Northern Ireland continues to have a high rate of self-harm."
Dealing with other public health issues, the chief medical officer noted "marked improvements" in levels of tooth decay in children between 2003 and 2013, and added that young people are now less likely to become smokers.
He also said he was "delighted" at recent legislation, due to come into effect next year, banning smoking in cars carrying children.
Dr McBride said: "The research is clear; the levels of dangerous substances from cigarette smoke in a car are up to 11 times more concentrated than they would be in a relatively small room.
"Opening the car window makes only a limited difference, and the dangerous particles remain in the air for more than an hour after smoking."
The chief medical officer added: "Children exposed to this suffer more harmful effects than adults because their respiratory and immune systems are less well developed... I have raised my concerns around this issue (of smoking in cars) in previous annual reports."
