Open access. Self-harm is a major risk factor for suicide, with older adults (older than 65 years) having reportedly greater suicidal intent than any other age group. With the aging population rising and paucity of research focus in this age group, the extent of the problem of self-harm needs to be established. In a primary care cohort of older adults we aimed to investigate the incidence of self-harm, subsequent clinical management, prevalence of mental and physical diagnoses, and unnatural-cause mortality risk, including suicide.