Attempted suicide by drug overdose and by poison-ingestion methods seen at the main general hospital in the Fiji islands: a comparative study.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the prevalence and the characteristics of deliberate self-poisoning patients seen at the main general hospital in the Fiji Islands.

METHOD: Thirty-one consecutive patients with deliberate drug-overdose and 27 others with nonoverdosed self-poisoning were compared on sociodemographic and clinical variables.

RESULTS

Deliberate self-poisoning cases represented 0.3% of the hospital admissions, and had a rate of 25.9 per 100,000 population. The overdose group was significantly older (P<.05), whereas the poison-ingestion group had significantly greater proportion of males (P<.03). The rate of psychiatric morbidity was significantly higher in the overdose group (P=.04), whereas the history of alcohol abuse was significantly higher in the other group (P=.04). Paracetamol (35.5%) and paraquat (29.7%) were the most commonly used agents.

CONCLUSIONS

Age, gender, rate of psychiatric morbidity, or history of alcohol abuse could be predictive of whether drug overdose or poison ingestion would be used for deliberate self-poisoning. This information could be relevant in the formulation of suicide preventive strategies.