title: Intentional poisoning among elderly people-residents of a large urban agglomeration in Poland.
abstract: Poisoning is considered a significant health problem among elderly people in Poland. This report refers to patients treated for poisonings at the Toxicology Unit, Lodz, Poland, during the period 2008-2012. The data to be analyzed were obtained from medical records of elderly people. A group of 1167 patients aged 60+ was selected. The number of intentional poisonings in the group of patients was 417, which accounted for 35.7% of all poisonings among the elderly people. Patients attempting intentional poisonings included 301 (72.2%) women and 116 (27.8%) men. The most common cause of intentional poisonings were drugs-96.6% (n = 403). Benzodiazepines (46.9%) dominated among the intentional poisoning by drugs. During the analyzed 5 years, 80.3% (n = 335) were suicidal poisonings and 19.7% (n = 82) were demonstrative poisonings. Cardiovascular disease, which was diagnosed among 53.5% of the patients, was the most common physical illness. In conclusion, drugs are the most frequent type of the toxic agent responsible for poisoning cases among the elderly people. In this situation, the role of family doctors is very important: they should prescribe medicines in amounts not greater than absolutely necessary and maybe more often recommend psychiatric care for the elderly patients.
authors: Department of Toxicology, Poison Information Centre, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland piekarska@imp.lodz.pl.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Piekarska-Wijatkowska
authors: Department of Toxicology, Poison Information Centre, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland.
authors: Katarzyna
authors: K
authors: Kobza-Sindlewska
authors: Department of Toxicology, Poison Information Centre, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Rogaczewska
authors: Department of Medical Informatics and Statistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors: Radosław
authors: R
authors: Zajdel
authors: Department of Toxicology, Toxicology Unit, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Krakowiak
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Epidemiology; human toxicology; poisonings