Voluntary self-poisoning as a cause of admission to a tertiary hospital internal medicine clinic in Piraeus, Greece within a year.
BACKGROUND
Out of 1705 patients hospitalised for various reasons in the 3rd Internal Medicine Department of the Regional General Hospital of Nikaea, in Piraeus, 146(8,5%) persons were admitted for drug intoxication between November 1999 and November 2000.


METHODS
On average, these persons [male 50(34,2%)--female 96(65,8%)] were admitted to the hospital within 3.7 hours after taking the drug.


RESULTS
The drugs that were more frequently taken, alone or in combination with other drugs, were sedatives (67.1%), aspirins and analgesics (mainly paracetamol) (43.5%). 38.3% of patients had a mental illness history, 31.5% were in need of psychiatric help and 45.2% had made a previous suicide attempt. No death occurred during the above period and the outcome of the patients' health was normal. After mental state examination, the mental illnesses diagnosed were depression (20.96%), psychosis (15.32%), dysthymic disorder (16,2%), anxiety disorder (22.58%) and personality disorder (8.87%).


CONCLUSIONS
Self-poisoning remains a crucial problem. The use of paracetamol and sedatives are particularly important in the population studied. Interpersonal psychiatric therapy may be a valuable treatment after people tried to poison themselves.
Tountas
C
C
Academic Dpt of Medicine, Hippokration General Hospital, Athens, Greece. stipapas@hellasnet.gr
Sotiropoulos
A
A
Skliros
S A
SA
Kotsini
V
V
Peppas
T A
TA
Tamvakos
E
E
Pappas
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006748:Hospital Departments; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*