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Self‐harm and self‐poisoning in southern India: choice of poisoning agents and treatment
Author(s) -
Bose Anuradha,
Sandal Sejbaek Camilla,
Suganthy Pearline,
Raghava Venkata,
Alex Reginald,
Muliyil Jayaprakash,
Konradsen Flemming
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2009.02293.x
Subject(s) - medicine , environmental health , population , government (linguistics) , suicide prevention , poison control , harm , public health , political science , nursing , linguistics , philosophy , law
Summary Objective To record cases of suicide and attempted suicide among a population of 108 000 people living in a primarily rural area of southern India, with the aim of guiding policies and strategies to restrict access to poisonous compounds at community level. Method Community‐based surveillance over a period of 2 years. Results and conclusion The overall suicide rate was 71.4 per 100 000 population; the highest burden was among men. Most people died through hanging (81, 54%) and self‐poisoning (46, 31%). Of the 46 who died from self‐poisoning, 78.3% had taken pesticides and 19.7% had eaten poisonous plants. Eighty per cent of the self‐poisoning cases obtained the poisonous substance in or in close proximity to the home, highlighting the importance of safe storage in the domestic environment. Of the 110 fatal and non‐fatal self‐poisoning cases, 87 (57.5%) were taken for treatment; 50 (57.4%) went to government hospitals and 37 (42.5%) to private facilities. This indicates the importance of including the private sector in the efforts to improve case management. Furthermore, the fact that 31 (67%) of the self‐poisoning patients, who eventually died, were alive after 4 h provides an incentive to focus on improved case management and access to health services.