Long-term mortality after poisoning with antipsychotics.
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to investigate the long-term mortality and cause of death after deliberate self-poisoning with antipsychotics. Furthermore, we investigated the risk of repeated self-poisoning after a first episode of poisoning with antipsychotics.


METHODS
We identified patients with antipsychotic poisoning from the Danish Poison Information Centre Database and correlated their personal identification number with four Danish national registries related to health aspects.


RESULTS
From August 2006 to December 2013 we identified 2289 patients poisoned with antipsychotic agents. The average age of the patients was 35.6 years (SD 14.3) and 68.5% were women. Eleven patients died during the first 30 days, and at the end of follow-up in March 2014, 150 patients were deceased, leading to a mortality rate of 2.1 per 100 person-years and a standardized mortality ratio of 9.0. The most common causes of death were poisoning (29%) and violent suicide (18%) - however half of the patients died from natural reasons. 643 patients (28%) repeated the poisoning once or more.


CONCLUSIONS
Poisoning with antipsychotics was associated with an increased risk of death. Most of these deaths were preventable, and this highlights the need for secondary prophylaxis following a suicide attempt.
a Department of Clinical Pharmacology , Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital , Copenhagen , Denmark.
Stine
S
Toft
a Department of Clinical Pharmacology , Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital , Copenhagen , Denmark.
Henrik
H
Horwitz
a Department of Clinical Pharmacology , Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital , Copenhagen , Denmark.
Kim Peder
KP
Dalhoff
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000506:poisoning*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003718:Denmark; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control; D055815:Young Adult
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
Antipsychotic poisoning; deliberate self-poisoning; long-term mortality