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EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DRUG OVERDOSAGE IN SOUTHERN TASMANIA
Author(s) -
Freeman J. W.,
Ryan C. A.,
Beattie R. R.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1970.tb63419.x
Subject(s) - medicine , incidence (geometry) , epidemiology , drug overdose , drug , aspirin , poison control , pediatrics , emergency medicine , psychiatry , physics , optics
A prospective survey of patients suffering from drug overdose was carried out over a period of 18 months. The series consisted of 298 patients and 333 separate hospital admissions. An analysis is made of the epidemiological factors involved and the following significant facts are observed. 1. A female to male ratio of 2·5: 1. 2. A high incidence of females in the 15 to 30 years age group. 3. A change in the drug types used, so that although barbiturates are the most commonly used drug (37%), an increase in the incidence of patients taking psychotropic drugs and proprietary sleeping tablets has occurred, while the incidence of the use of aspirin and related compounds has fallen. 4. Sixty per cent of patients immediately informed their families that they had taken an overdose, and 50% were admitted conscious directly to the psychiatric ward. This is taken to indicate that there was no true self‐destructive impulse in at least 50% of cases. 5. Three patients (1%) died as a result of their overdose, while a further five patients (2%) died as a result of a further drug overdose after their discharge from hospital. This compares with a total number of 45 suicides during the same period. 6. It would appear that three groups amongst those attempting suicide could be distinguished: a group whose impulsive act is best defined as a “gesture”; a group who succeed on their first attempt, often by violent means other than drug overdose; and a third group which consists of patients who take medically serious overdoses or multiple overdoses. The patients who take multiple overdoses appear to have a significantly higher risk of succeeding at one of their attempts.