A latest study stated that physical illnesses such as asthma, diabetes and epilepsy up the chances of self-harm and suicide.

For the study, researchers at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, examined the risk of hospital admission for self-harm. They found that majority of the people with physical illnesses had higher chances of harming themselves.

It is a known fact that people with mental issues tend to harm themselves but this study states that people with physical illnesses like diabetes, epilepsy and asthma are also more likely to intentionally hurt themselves.

The researchers also found that other physical illnesses that can increase the risk of self-harm include migraine, psoriasis, eczema and inflammatory polyarthropathies.

According to the study findings, diseases like epilepsy, asthma, eczema and cancers too moderately increase risk of suicide.

"It is important for physicians, general practitioners and mental health workers to be aware of the physical disorders that are associated with an increased risk of self-harm so that at-risk individuals may be better identified and can be monitored for any psychiatric symptoms and mental distress," researchers wrote in the study.

According to Mental Health Screening, those who engage in self-harm mostly report experiencing intense, frequent, aversive emotions in their everyday lives. They are much more likely to suffer from symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Furthermore, the health website debunked the theory that self-harm mostly stems from childhood abuse.  It stated that a direct relationship between child sexual abuse and self-injury was rather weak. Instead, it states that these two experiences are correlated because of other shared psychological risk factors. 

The findings are published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.