Evaluation of Drug Intoxications Due To Suicides

Abstract

Objective: the intoxications occur via taking high doses of drugs or substances for the purpose of suicide or unconsciously. in this retrospective study, we aimed to explore the causes of intoxications and to evaluate the demographic and clinical features and the prognosis of patients who were followed and treated for intoxications in our intensive care unit or internal medicine clinic and secondly we aimed to add information for the data of intoxications in our country. Methods: All patients over 15 years old who admitted to Emergency Unit of Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Teaching and Research Hospital for the intoxications because of suicide, between November 2008 and November 2013 included in this study. Results: 127 patients were enrolled in the current study and 75,6% (96) of the patients were female. Mean age of the patients was 25,04 +/- 9, 61 years and 37% of the patients were under 20 years old. the antidepressant agents were the most frequent pharmacologic agent (28,3%) as the cause of intoxications. the number of drugs taken for the intoxication was 15-20 in 22% of the patients. 58,3% of the patients admitted to the hospital after 1-2 hours taking the drug. the patients were followed and treated for meanly 1.88 days in the hospital. When we evaluated the results of psychiatry consultation reports, we found that 50,4% of the patients were diagnosed with depression. Conclusion: the young and female patients are on the risk of drug abuse for the aim of suicide. Particularly, suicides are observed more frequently in the patients with depression. Admission to the hospital in a short time after taking the drugs reduces the time of stay in hospital and mortality.