Frequency of delibrated self poisoning during Rafsanjan in 2008

Self-poisoning is one way of suicide attempt and one of the main reasons of patients referral to emergency wards and third leading cause of young people death. With regard to differences in self poisoning epidemiology this study was aimd to assess self poisoning epidemiology in patient referring to Ali ebne abitaleb hospital. In this cross sectional descriptive study, clinical history of all self poisoning cases referring to emergency ward of Ali ebne abitaleb hospital during spring and summer 2008 was assessed. Data collected using a researcher designed questionnaire contains demographic data, type of poison' duration of hospitalization and patient outcomes. Data analyzed by SPSS software using statistical tests such as independent t-test, ANOVA and chi square. During study period, 280 case of self poisoning was recorded. Of cases 53.3 were female. Mean age of patients was 23.28 years. Poisoning occurred frequently in age group of 11 to 30 year. In 66.1% of cases poisoning occurred using drug. There was a significant difference between type of drug used and sex. Majority of poisoning cases used benzodiazepines. Self poisoning lead to death in 1.64% of cases. There was no significant difference between mortality and sex. Presence of higher rate of self poisoning in women deserves more attention to specific problem of them and planning to prevention of suicide. Drug distribution by pharmacies and pattern of storage of drugs at home need to be audited.