Deliberate Overdosage in a Hospital Catchment Area: Preliminary Results of a 7-Year Study (IN: Current Issues of Suicidology, ed. by H J Moller, A Schmidtke & R Welz)

This study analyzes deliberate self-poisoning cases admitted to an emergency department in Great Britain. The overall rate of adult overdoses in the catchment area was 16 per 100,000. The authors report that 27% of attempters had previously overdosed. They found that the changes in rates of overdoses seem to be coincident with the availability of psychoactive medicines, in particular benzodiazepines. About 78% of the poisonings were with prescribed medication. (VM)