Resource Tag: PESTICIDE INGESTION

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The clinical epidemiology, including case fatality & determinants of self-harm, were examined in six island blocks of the Sundarban region of West Bengal, India. The clinical records of 1277 patients admitted to hospital for deliberate self-harm between 1999-2001 were examined. Women accounted for 65.2% of deliberate self-harm admissions & 67.1% of the deaths. Pesticides were […]

The circumstances & characteristics of suicides in Nickerie, Suriname are described in order to gain insight into why South Asians commonly use self-poisoning. An exploratory psychological autopsy study was conducted with 19 survivors of 13 suicides. Impulsivity plays an important role in self-poisnonings, as well as aggression & easy accessibility of pesticides. Possible answers to […]

This study sought to determine why paraquat is such a common agent for suicide attempts in Korea. 250 cases (143 males, 107 females) of attempted suicide by paraquat igestion were analyzed. The procurement of the paraquat was divided into 2 categories: purchased & pre-existing. Men were more likely to have purchased paraquat than were women. […]

In this commentary, the authors discuss self-poisoning with pesticides. The World Health Organization now estimates pesticide ingestion is the most common method of suicide worldwide & has launched a global initiative in response. The use of safe-storage boxes is discussed as one approach to prevention; however, there are drawbacks to this approach. The authors recommend […]

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This study evaluated the demographic, causative, & biologic characteristics of 63 patients with organophosphate poisoning admitted to 2 hospitals in Turkey. 53 of the patients had suicidal intent & 10 cases were accidental. The mean age of patients who had attempted suicide was 28.5 years. No statistically significant differences were noted between accidental exposure & […]

In this letter to the editor, the author discusses suicide by pesticide ingestion in India. These deaths may account for up to 80% of the total number of poisoning cases. The types of pesticides being used & the forensic examination of these deaths are briefly reviewed.

The association between pesticide exposure & suicide ideation in rural areas of China was investigated. Data was gathered from a survey of a representative sample of 9811 rural residents in Zhejiang province who had been asked about the storage of pesticides at home & whether or not they had considered suicide within the 2 years […]

4 villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India that had stopped using chemical pesticides in favour of non-pesticide management were visited to assess any change in suicide incidence before & after discontinuation of chemical pesticides. 4 similar village in the same region that continued to use chemical pesticides were used as controls for […]

Patients who had self-poisoned with pesticides & who were admitted to adult medical wards were interviewed by study doctors to identify the source of the pesticides they ingested. Of the 669 patients included in the study, 425 were male. In 511 cases, the pesticides had been stored either inside or immediately outside the house; among […]

Self-poisoning with pesticides accounts for about a third of all suicides worldwide. To tackle this problem, the World Health Organization announced a global public health initative in the second half of 2005. Planned approaches were to range from government regulatory action to the development of new treatments for pesticide poisoning. With broad-based support, this strategy […]

In this commentary, the author addresses an article by Gunnell et al (2007) on the impact of pesticide regulations on suicide in Sri Lanka. Patel welcomes the addition of this study to the research being accrued from developing countries. (9 refs.)

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A literature review was done to estimate the number of pesticide suicides in each of the World Health Organization’s six regions & the global burden of fatal self-poisoning with pesticides. It is conservatively estimated that there are 258,234 deaths from pesticide self-poisoning worldwide each year, accounting for 30% of suicides globally. Applying evidence-based corrections to […]

In this letter to the editor, the authors comment on self-poisoning with pesticides in India noting that from 2001-2005, 68% of fatal self-poisonings were by this method. They then discuss the difficulties in implementing some of the suggestions that have been made to prevent these deaths. (5 refs.)

The epidemiology of intentional self-poisoning in rural Sri Lanka was examined by prospectively recording 2189 admissions to 2 secondary hospitals. Many patients were young (median age 25 years), male (57%) & used pesticides. Of the 198 who died, 156 were males. Although the age pattern of self-poisoning was similar to that of industrialised countries, case […]

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An epidemiological study in the Nickerie catchment area of Suriname revealed high rates of suicide (48 per 100,000) & attempted suicide (207 per 100,000) on average in the years 2000-2004. The high number of attempted suicides among males was particularly remarkable as was the use of pesticides. It is speculated the high incidence of suicidal […]