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Clinical Profile and Outcome of Deliberate Self Poisoning Cases in Medical Wards

Received: 1 May 2015    Accepted: 7 October 2015    Published: 23 October 2015
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Abstract

Non-fatal deliberate self-harm (DSH) and suicides are serious global health problems in many low- and middle-income countries including India. We conducted a cross sectional observational study in patients admitted with deliberate self harm in a tertiary care centre to identify the common agents used for poisoning in our area, to know the common clinical features and the outcome of such cases. Of the 200 patients observed, there were 114(57%) males and 86(43%) females. In the study group, 53 (13males, 40females) patients were adolescents, 85 (60 males, 25 females) were young, 29(16males, 13 females) were middle aged and 33 (25males, 8females) were elderly. The pesticide group which included organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates and pyrethroids constituted commonest substance used as poisoning agent (39%,n= 78) followed by plant poisons (28%,n=55 ) which included yellow oleander, oduku leaves and abrus precatorius. Rodenticides (10%, n=20), benzodiazapines (6%, n=11), kerosene (5%, n==9) and paracetamol (3%, n==6) were the other common exposure. Various drug combinations, copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, formic acid, fabric whitner, weedicides and homeopathic medications constitutes 11% (n==21) of cases. Mortality of study population was 6% (n==12, 11 men and 1 woman). Four patients expired after organophosphorus poisoning, four with carbamate poisoning, two with oduku, one each with rodenticide and yellow oleander poisoning. Pesticides and plant poisons are the common agents used for deliberate self harm in our study. Adoloscent and young persons are commonly involved in suicide attempts. Pesticides cause majority of deaths while plant and rodenticide poisonings can also be fatal.

Published in American Journal of Internal Medicine (Volume 3, Issue 6-1)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Toxicology

DOI 10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12
Page(s) 5-9
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Deliberate Self Harm, Pesticides, Plant Poisons, Rodenticide Poisoning, Drug Overdosage

References
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[3] Bose TK, Basu RK, Biswas B, De JN, Majumdar BC, Datta S. Cardiovascular effects of yellow oleander ingestion. J Indian Med Assoc. 1999 Oct; 97(10): 407–10.
[4] Gautami S, Sudershan RV, Bhat R V., Suhasini G, Bharati M, Gandhi KPC. Chemical poisoning in three Telengana districts of Andhra Pradesh. Forensic Sci Int. Elsevier; 2001 Nov 1; 122(2-3): 167–71.
[5] Manuel C, Gunnell DJ, van der Hoek W, Dawson A, Wijeratne IK, Konradsen F. Self-poisoning in rural Sri Lanka: small-area variations in incidence. BMC Public Health. 2008 Jan; 8: 26.
[6] Eddleston M, Buckley NA, Eyer P, Dawson AH. Management of acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning. Lancet. Lancet Publishing Group; 2008; 371(9612): 597–607.
[7] Das RK. Epidemiology of Insecticide poisoining at A.I.I.M.S Emergency Services and role of its detection by gas liquid chromatography in diagnosis. Medico update. 2007; 7: 49–60.
[8] Unnikrishnan B, Singh B, Rajeev A. Trends of acute poisoning in South Karnataka. Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ) 2005; 3: 149–54.
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[15] Shumaik GM, Wu AW, Ping AC. Oleander poisoning: Treatment with digoxin-specific fab antibody fragments. Ann Emerg Med; 1988 Jul 7; 17(7): 732–5.
[16] Pirasath S, Arulnithy K. Yellow oleander poisoning in eastern province: an analysis of admission and outcome. Indian J Med Sci; 2013 Jan 1; 67(7-8): 178–83.
[17] Rajapakse S. Management of yellow oleander poisoning. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2009 Mar; 47(3): 206–12.
[18] Cleistanthus collinus poisoning: an effective management with multidose activated charcoal. Available from: http://allsubjectjournal.com/vol2/issue1/PartF/pdf/20.1.pdf.
[19] Parsons BJ, Day LM, Ozanne-Smith J, Dobbin M. Rodenticide poisoning among children. Aust N Z J Public Health [Internet]. 1996 Oct; 20(5): 488–92.
[20] Kruse JA, Carlson RW. Fatal rodenticide poisoning with brodifacoum. Ann Emerg Med. 1992 Mar; 21(3): 331–6.
[21] Eddleston M, Gunnell D, Karunaratne A, de Silva D, Sheriff MHR, Buckley N a. Epidemiology of intentional self-poisoning in rural Sri Lanka. Br J Psychiatry. 2005 Dec; 187: 583–4.
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  • APA Style

    Indira Madhavan, Santhosh L. K., Vinu Thomas. (2015). Clinical Profile and Outcome of Deliberate Self Poisoning Cases in Medical Wards. American Journal of Internal Medicine, 3(6-1), 5-9. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12

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    ACS Style

    Indira Madhavan; Santhosh L. K.; Vinu Thomas. Clinical Profile and Outcome of Deliberate Self Poisoning Cases in Medical Wards. Am. J. Intern. Med. 2015, 3(6-1), 5-9. doi: 10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12

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    AMA Style

    Indira Madhavan, Santhosh L. K., Vinu Thomas. Clinical Profile and Outcome of Deliberate Self Poisoning Cases in Medical Wards. Am J Intern Med. 2015;3(6-1):5-9. doi: 10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12,
      author = {Indira Madhavan and Santhosh L. K. and Vinu Thomas},
      title = {Clinical Profile and Outcome of Deliberate Self Poisoning Cases in Medical Wards},
      journal = {American Journal of Internal Medicine},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6-1},
      pages = {5-9},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.s.2015030601.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajim.s.2015030601.12},
      abstract = {Non-fatal deliberate self-harm (DSH) and suicides are serious global health problems in many low- and middle-income countries including India. We conducted a cross sectional observational study in patients admitted with deliberate self harm in a tertiary care centre to identify the common agents used for poisoning in our area, to know the common clinical features and the outcome of such cases. Of the 200 patients observed, there were 114(57%) males and 86(43%) females. In the study group, 53 (13males, 40females) patients were adolescents, 85 (60 males, 25 females) were young, 29(16males, 13 females) were middle aged and 33 (25males, 8females) were elderly. The pesticide group which included organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates and pyrethroids constituted commonest substance used as poisoning agent (39%,n= 78) followed by plant poisons (28%,n=55 ) which included yellow oleander, oduku leaves and abrus precatorius. Rodenticides (10%, n=20), benzodiazapines (6%, n=11), kerosene (5%, n==9) and paracetamol (3%, n==6) were the other common exposure. Various drug combinations, copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, formic acid, fabric whitner, weedicides and homeopathic medications constitutes 11% (n==21) of cases. Mortality of study population was 6% (n==12, 11 men and 1 woman). Four patients expired after organophosphorus poisoning, four with carbamate poisoning, two with oduku, one each with rodenticide and yellow oleander poisoning. Pesticides and plant poisons are the common agents used for deliberate self harm in our study. Adoloscent and young persons are commonly involved in suicide attempts. Pesticides cause majority of deaths while plant and rodenticide poisonings can also be fatal.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Clinical Profile and Outcome of Deliberate Self Poisoning Cases in Medical Wards
    AU  - Indira Madhavan
    AU  - Santhosh L. K.
    AU  - Vinu Thomas
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    T2  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
    JF  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
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    AB  - Non-fatal deliberate self-harm (DSH) and suicides are serious global health problems in many low- and middle-income countries including India. We conducted a cross sectional observational study in patients admitted with deliberate self harm in a tertiary care centre to identify the common agents used for poisoning in our area, to know the common clinical features and the outcome of such cases. Of the 200 patients observed, there were 114(57%) males and 86(43%) females. In the study group, 53 (13males, 40females) patients were adolescents, 85 (60 males, 25 females) were young, 29(16males, 13 females) were middle aged and 33 (25males, 8females) were elderly. The pesticide group which included organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates and pyrethroids constituted commonest substance used as poisoning agent (39%,n= 78) followed by plant poisons (28%,n=55 ) which included yellow oleander, oduku leaves and abrus precatorius. Rodenticides (10%, n=20), benzodiazapines (6%, n=11), kerosene (5%, n==9) and paracetamol (3%, n==6) were the other common exposure. Various drug combinations, copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, formic acid, fabric whitner, weedicides and homeopathic medications constitutes 11% (n==21) of cases. Mortality of study population was 6% (n==12, 11 men and 1 woman). Four patients expired after organophosphorus poisoning, four with carbamate poisoning, two with oduku, one each with rodenticide and yellow oleander poisoning. Pesticides and plant poisons are the common agents used for deliberate self harm in our study. Adoloscent and young persons are commonly involved in suicide attempts. Pesticides cause majority of deaths while plant and rodenticide poisonings can also be fatal.
    VL  - 3
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Author Information
  • Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Thrissur, India

  • Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Thrissur, India

  • Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Thrissur, India

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