An evaluation of suicide attempts with pharmacologic agents

Abstract

Suicide is defined as a voluntary desire of a person to put end to his own life and this is the most important cause of death in psychiatry. In this study we aimed to find causes of suicide attempts with pharmacologic agents. We reviewed the charts of the patients who were admitted to Ondokuz Mayas University Emergency Department due to intoxication with medications between the period of 01.01.2000-20.05.200. Previous history of a psychiatric disorder, number of suicide attempts, history of psychiatric disorder in the family, precipitating factors of suicide attempt, existance of psychiatric follow up or not and the sociodemographic data were recorded from the medical records of the 59 patient who met the criteria of suicide attempt with medication. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS statistical program. The ages of the patients were between 14-80 years (mean 25.57 years). Forty six of them were female (78%). Forty two of them were married, 42 of them were housewifes. The cause of suicide attempt were unknown in 32 patients (54%) but in 14 patients (23.7%) family problems were the main cause. Twenty seven patients were not seen in the Emergency Department (ED) by a psychiatrist (45.8%). The 17 patients who were seen by a psychiatrist were found to be normal in mental states examination. There were 2 patients who had physical disorder. The suicide attempts were realized with antidepressan in 12 patient (20.3%), with the other drugs in 12 patients with organophosphates in 10 patients (16.9%), 17 of them were seen by a psychiatrist the next day (28.8%), 23 of them were not evaluated by a psychiatrist. Only 4 patients were followed up by the department after the event. As a result of this study we determined that the number of female and jobless persons who attempted suicide is high. Most frequently used agents were antidepressants. The patients attempted to suicide were discharged from ED without consultation of psychiatrist. And also a few patient who were consultated with psychiatrist did not follow up by psychiatry department. As a conclusion the suicide attempts admitted to ED should be followed more seriously.