Purpose To examine the rates and profiles of intentional self-harm hospital admissions among people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and non-CALD backgrounds.

Methods A retrospective analysis of 29,213 hospital admissions for self-harm among people aged 15 years or older in Victoria, Australia, was conducted using data from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset between 2014/2015 and 2018/2019. The Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset records all hospital admissions in public and private hospitals in Victoria (population 6.5 million). Population-based incidence of self-harm, logistic regression and percentages (95% confidence intervals) were calculated to compare between CALD groups by birthplaces and the non-CALD groups of self-harm admissions.

Results When grouped together CALD individuals had lower rates of (hospital-treated) self-harm compared with the non-CALD individuals. However, some CALD groups such as those originating from Sudan and Iran had higher rates than non-CALD groups. Among self-harm hospitalised patients, those in the CALD group (vs non-CALD group) were more likely to be older, Metropolitan Victorian residents, from the lowest socioeconomic status, and being ever or currently married. Self-harm admissions by persons born in Southern and Eastern Europe were the oldest of all groups; in all other groups number of admissions tended to decrease as age increased whereas in this group the number of admissions increased as age increased.

Conclusion There was considerable heterogeneity in rates of hospital-treated self-harm in CALD communities. Combining all CALD people into one group may obscure important differences in self-harm. Different self-harm prevention strategies are likely to be needed for different CALD populations.