- Title
- Self-poisoning by older Australians: a cohort study
- Creator
- Pillans, Peter I.; Page, Colin B.; Ilango, Sivarajah; Kashchuk, Anna; Isbister, Geoffrey K.
- Relation
- Funding BodyNHMRCGrant Number1055176 and NHMRC 1061041 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1061041
- Relation
- Medical Journal of Australia Vol. 206, Issue 4, p. 164-169
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja16.00484
- Publisher
- Australasian Medical Publishing Company
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Objective: To examine the epidemiology and severity of self-poisoning by older people in Australia; to compare these data with those for overdoses in younger adults. Design, setting, participants: A cohort study of people presenting to a tertiary toxicology centre after self-poisoning over 26 years (1987-2012). Main outcome measures: Hospital length of stay (LOS); types of drug ingested; intensive care unit (ICU) admissions; in-hospital deaths. Results: Of 17 276 admissions, 626 patients (3.6%) were at least 65 years old. There was a steady decline in the number of overdoses with age. Most self-poisoning by older people was intentional (80% of admissions), but the proportion of unintentional poisonings increased with age (P<0.001). Median LOS for older patients was 34 h (interquartile range [IQR], 16-75 h), longer than for younger patients (16 h; IQR, 9-25 h; P<0.001). 133 older patients (21.2%) were admitted to an ICU, compared with 1976 younger patients (11.9%; P<0.001). 24 older patients (3.8%) and 93 younger patients (0.6%) died; mortality among older patients declined over time. Hypotension and arrhythmias were more common in patients over 65. Benzodiazepines (24%) were the drugs most commonly ingested by older patients, but opioids the most frequently taken drugs in fatal cases. Toxic ingestion of cardiovascular drugs increased threefold over the 26 years; about one-third of poisonings were unintentional or iatrogenic. Recreational drugs were implicated in the admissions of four older patients (0.6%), but in 7.8% of those of people under 65. Conclusion: Older patients treated for self-poisoning differ in several important respects from patients under 65. They are more severely affected by self-poisoning: LOS is greater, and ICU admission and mortality rates are higher.
- Subject
- self-poisoning; older Australian; overdoses; ICU
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1384330
- Identifier
- uon:32045
- Identifier
- ISSN:0025-729X
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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