Article ; Online: Self-harm by single- and multi-agent medication poisoning in a retrospective analysis of a Poison Control Center database from January 2018 to December 2022.
Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
2024 Volume 33, Issue 2, Page(s) e5767
Abstract: Purpose: Medication poisoning is the most common method of self-harm. Longitudinal studies incorporating pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic data are required to describe the phenomenon and to evaluate the long-term impact on mental health.: Methods: ... ...
| Abstract | Purpose: Medication poisoning is the most common method of self-harm. Longitudinal studies incorporating pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic data are required to describe the phenomenon and to evaluate the long-term impact on mental health. Methods: Calls to the Poison Control Center of Policlinico Umberto I Hospital - Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, were analyzed retrospectively for characteristics and clinical presentation of cases of interest from January 2018 to December 2022. Results: A total of 756 cases of self-harm by medication poisonings were recorded in the study period. A reduction in rate of cases in 2020 was followed by a return to pre-pandemic levels by 2021. When separately analyzing single- and multi-agent cases, occurrence of cases involving just one medication increased since early 2021, with a peak in 2022 (7.8% of total calls, 95% CI 6.2-9.5, from 4.9%, 95% CI 4.1-5.8 in 2018). This increase in the rate of cases, mostly of none or mild severity, was driven by youth aged 12-21, in which the relative proportion of single- versus multi-agent cases showed an increasing trend since 2020 (from 42.6% in 2018 to 78.6% in 2022). Acetaminophen was the medication most frequently involved and benzodiazepines the largest class. A psychiatric background was increasingly seen in 2022, especially in age group 12-21. Conclusion: Single-agent medication self-harm may be an increasingly prevailing phenomenon. Young adolescents with a psychiatric background might be most vulnerable to this behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic aftermath. Healthcare professionals should expect favorable clinical outcome and improve both counseling and psychotherapy supervision in individuals at risk. |
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| MeSH term(s) | Adolescent ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Poison Control Centers ; Pandemics ; Self-Injurious Behavior/epidemiology ; COVID-19/epidemiology ; Poisoning/epidemiology ; Poisoning/therapy |
| Language | English |
| Publishing date | 2024-02-15 |
| Publishing country | England |
| Document type | Journal Article |
| ZDB-ID | 1099748-9 |
| ISSN | 1099-1557 ; 1053-8569 |
| ISSN (online) | 1099-1557 |
| ISSN | 1053-8569 |
| DOI | 10.1002/pds.5767 |
| Database | MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE |
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