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Self-poisoning in the acute care medicine 2005–2012
- Source :
- Der Anaesthesist. 64:456-462
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2015.
-
Abstract
- To describe the trend of acute self-poisoning in the emergency and intensive care. Electronic charts of adults who presented to the emergency department of the University Hospital Leipzig with self-poisoning following a suicide attempt (suicide group), intoxication (intoxication group), drug overdose for relief of pain or discomfort (drug overdose group) between 2005 and 2012 were analyzed. 3533 adults (62.6 % males) were identified, with the yearly admissions increasing from 305 in 2005 to 624 in 2012. The admission rate in relation to the total emergency department admissions also increased, from 1.2 % in 2005 to 1.9 % in 2012. 31.7 % of the patients were younger than 25 years. The reasons for self-poisoning were suicide attempt (18.1 %), intoxication (76.8 %) and drug overdose (2.9 %). The reason could not be clearly classified in 80 patients. Psychotropic drugs were used in 71.6 % of suicide attempts, while alcohol was the sole cause of intoxication in 80.1 % of cases in the intoxication group. Self-poisoning using at least two substances was observed in 52.0 % of the suicide attempts, 10.3 % of those with intoxication and 29.7 % of those with drug overdose. While alcohol remains the most common cause of intoxication, there was a drastic increase in the consumption of cannabinoids, Crystal Meth and gamma-hydroxybutyrate in the years 2011 and 2012. ICU admission was necessary in 16.6 % of the cases. There were 22 deaths (0.6 % of the study population), of whom 15 were in the suicide group (2.3 %), four (0.15 %) in the intoxication group, and three in the not clearly classified group (3.8 %). Acute self-poisoning is an increasing medical issue. Psychotropic drugs remain the most common means of suicide attempt. Although alcohol intoxication is very frequent, intake of illicit drugs as the cause of emergency admission is increasing.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Emergency Medical Services
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
Critical Care
Poison control
Suicide, Attempted
Drug overdose
Suicide prevention
Young Adult
Alcohol intoxication
Germany
Acute care
Intensive care
medicine
Humans
Aged
Ethanol
Suicide attempt
Illicit Drugs
business.industry
Poisoning
Central Nervous System Depressants
General Medicine
Emergency department
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Suicide
Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
Emergency medicine
Female
Drug Overdose
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1432055X and 00032417
- Volume :
- 64
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Der Anaesthesist
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2ff7ec02e45d735d24f14a6125bb8d54