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Table 2 Socio-demographic, educational and clinical characteristics of the population resident in South London by gender and ASD status

From: Autism spectrum disorders as a risk factor for adolescent self-harm: a retrospective cohort study of 113,286 young people in the UK

Sample characteristics*

Male (n=56,578)

Female (n=56,708)

No ASD (n=54,552)

ASD (n=2026)

No ASD (n=56,271)

ASD (n=437)

Self-harm presentation to ED

107 (0.2)

11 (0.5)

635–645** (1.1–1.1)

<10 (<2·3)

Mean age at baseline (SD)

12.8 (2.0)

12.3 (1.7)

12.8 (2.0)

12.2 (1.6)

Mean duration of follow-up (SD)

2.74 (1.3)

2.73 (1.3)

2.72 (1.3)

2.80 (1.3)

Ethnicity

(n, %)

(n, %)

(n, %)

(n, %)

 White

20,238 (37.1)

770 (38.0)

20,651 (36.7)

176 (40.3)

 Black

20, 012 (36.7)

850 (42.0)

21,099 (37.5)

174 (39.8)

 Asian

4788 (8.8)

78 (3.9)

4869 (8.7)

24 (5.5)

 Mixed

6013 (11.0)

237 (11.7)

6275 (11.2)

45 (10.3)

 Other

1928 (3.5)

42 (2.1)

1891 (3.4)

<10 (<2.3)

 Not disclosed/unknown

1575 (2.9)

49 (2.4)

1486 (2.6)

12 (2.8)

National neighbourhood deprivation

 Most deprived quintile

19,805 (36.3)

824 (40.8)

20,222 (40.0)

173 (39.6)

 2nd

22,100 (40.5)

804 (39.8)

22,794 (40.5)

179 (40.1)

 3rd

7759 (14.2)

251 (12.4)

8227 (14.6)

550 (12.6)

 4th

3283 (6.0)

99 (4.9)

3322 (5.9)

24 (5.5)

 Least deprived quintile

1579 (2.9)

42 (2.1)

1688 (3.0)

<10 (<2.3)

Special education needsa

 Learning Difficulties (specific/moderate)

8898 (16.3)

548 (27.1)

6085 (10.8)

133 (30.4)

 Learning Difficulties (severe/ profound)

591 (1.1)

250 (12.3)

381 (0.7)

65 (14.9)

 Behavioural, Emotional, Social problems

6726 (12.3)

548 (27.1)

3548 (6.3)

89 (20.4)

 Speech, language and communication

4291 (7.9)

806 (39.8)

2134 (3.8)

161 (36.8)

 Hearing, vision or physical disability

795 (1.5)

69 (3.4)

735 (1.3)

16 (3.4)

First languagea

 English

39,920 (73.2)

1661 (82.0)

40,815 (72.5)

344 (78.7)

 Other

13,612 (25.0)

341 (16.8)

14, 541 (25.9)

89 (20.4)

 Not disclosed

1022 (1.9)

24 (1.2)

915 (1.6)

<10 (<2.3)

School type

 Mainstream

53,868 (98.7)

1597 (78.8)

56,024 (99.6)

333 (76.2)

 Special school

579 (1.1)

418 (20.6)

237 (0.4)

104 (23.8)

 Pupil referral units

107 (0.2)

11 (0.5)

10 (0.02)

0 (0)

Educational attainment (key stage two)b

 Lowest quintile

12, 220 (23.1)

1146 (59.0)

10, 461 (19.2)

296 (69.7)

 Second

10,461 (19.8)

277 (14.3)

10,750 (19.7)

55 (12.9)

 Third

10,301(19.5)

224 (11.5)

11,141 (20.4)

29 (6.8)

 Fourth

10,283 (19.5)

168 (8.6)

10,078 (20.3)

22 (5.2)

 Highest quintile

9577 (18.1)

128 (6.6)

11,172 (20.4)

23 (5.4)

 Less than 80% attendancec

2587 (4.9)

118 (6.0)

2538 (4.7)

22 (5.2)

 Fixed term exclusionsa

5847 (10.7)

239 (11.8)

2790 (5.0)

26 (6.0)

Other social factors

 Summer birth (May-Aug)

18,941 (34.7)

720 (35.5)

19,185 (34.1)

140 (32.0)

 Free school meals a

13,105 (24.0)

696 (34.5)

13,391 (23.8)

167 (38.2)

 Looked after child status d

420 (0.8)

30 (1.5)

397 (0.7)

12 (2.8)

ICD-10 hyperkinetic disorder

670 (1.2)

131 (6.5)

168 (0.3)

23 (5.3)

  1. *Missing = 257 non-matched self-harm cases
  2. **Range presented to avoid statistical disclosure in the ASD group
  3. Missing values. a257, b3731, c4049, and d4547