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Summary
Suicide attempts by poisoning and other means: distinguishing characteristics
Ainara Blay Córdoba1, Oriol Pallàs2,3 , Francina Fonseca3,4-7 , Isabel Cirera2,3,7 , Marta Torrens3,5-7, August Supervía2-4,7
Affiliation of the authors
1Facultad de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. 2Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain. 3Unitat de Toxicologia del Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona, Spain. 4Grupo de Toxicología de la Sociedad Catalana de Medicina de Urgencias (SoCMUETox). 5Institut de Neuropsiquiatria i Addiccions-Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona, Spain. 6Grup de Recerca en Addiccions, Institut Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain. 7Departament de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut (MELIS), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
DOI
Quote
Blay Córdoba A, Pallàs O, Fonseca F, Cirera I, Torrens M, Supervía A. Suicide attempts by poisoning and other means: distinguishing characteristics. Rev Esp Urg Emerg. 2023;2:13–8
Summary
OBJECTIVES. To identify possible differences between attempted suicides by poisoning and attempts by other methods. To describe possible predictors of the use of poisons, and to determine the most commonly used substances.
METHODS. Descriptive retrospective observational study of patients attempting suicide between January 2018 and July 2021 who were treated in the emergency and psychiatric departments of a tertiary care teaching hospital. We analyzed differences between poisoning and non-poisoning cases based on data extracted from records as follows: referral source, history of psychiatric disease and substance abuse, prior suicide attempts, existence of a written suicide note, and signs and symptoms.
RESULTS. A total of 653 suicide attempts were on record. The majority (87.6%) involved a poisonous substance. Differentiating characterics were sex (70.6% of women used a poison and 55.6% of men used a different method, P < .001). The majority in both groups were Spanish (71.2% and 58%, P = .021), and a history of a psychiatric illness was high in both (84.6% and 80.2%). Risk factors for using a poison included female sex and a history of addiction. On the other hand, a history of having a psychotic episode was inversely associated with use of a poison.
CONCLUSIONS. Differences between people who attempt suicide by poisoning and those who use another method include sex, nationality, and certain aspects of psychiatric history.
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