Selv-forgiftninger og praeparatvalg: Ber undersegelser baseres pa henvendelser eller patienter?

Abstract

Several studies on the use of toxic agents for intended self-poisoning are based on the a priori assumption that a person's repeated acts of self-poisoning are unrelated, and calculations are therefore based on the number of events. We claim this assumption invalid; repeated acts of intended self-poisoning committed by the same person must be considered interdependent. This notion is supported by our findings in a study at Odense University Hospital, showing that persons with only one single incident differ significantly with regard to the choice of toxic agent from those who repeat the self-poisoning. In our study we demonstrate that the drug pattern differs depending on whether calculations are based on number of events or on number of persons involved. The choice of drug was also found to be significantly sex- and age-specific. Such findings lead to the conclusion that to get a clear picture of the extent of self-poisoning with a particular toxic agent, calculations should be based on the number of persons, distributed by sex, and preferably also by age. If the purpose is to examine the prevalence in a population of poisonings with a particular agent, calculations based on the number of events are statistically incorrect and may be directly misleading.

Key Words:

• Calculation methods
• Choice of substance
• Events against persons
• Intended self-poisonings