title: [Seasonality in acute intoxication with xenobiotics].
abstract: There is a lot of data in medical literature which point at the phenomenon of seasonality of suicide attempts through self-intoxication. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seasonality of acute, suicide poisonings in 2002-2005 period. We analysed all self-poisoning cases hospitalized in 2002-2005 period in our Department. The study group consisted of 1416 patients including 836 female (59.1%) and 580 (40.9%) male. The average age was 35.4 +/- 15.5 years. The evaluation of suicide attempts' seasonality was made on two levels, i.e. days of the week and months of the year. This means we analysed the number of admissions to the Clinic due to deliberate self-poisoning in each month of the year and each day of the week. Based on the analysis of the number of cases admitted to the Department due to suicide poisoning it was established that there was a phenomenon of seasonality on both levels (days of the week and months of the year). The number of intoxication-related admissions proved to be significantly higher on Monday whereas significantly lower on Saturday. As far as the yearly seasonality is concerned the number of admissions to the Clinic was significantly below the average in February and in the period from August to October while it was significantly above the average in January and March. In respect to gender however we examined no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of intoxication in each day of the week or each month of the year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  1. The seasonality of suicide attempts was detected on both day of the week and month of the year levels. 2. No significant differences in the prevalence of intoxication were established in respect to gender on either day of the week or month of the year levels.
authors.affiliation: Katedra i Klinika Chorób Wewnetrznych, Chorób Tkanki Łacznej i Geriatrii, Gdańskiego Uniwersytetu Medycznego. hannakujawska@wp.pl
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kujawska-Danecka
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sein Anand
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zdrojewski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015262:Xenobiotics / Q000506:poisoning*
chemical_list: D015262:Xenobiotics