Self poisoning in the adolescent and adult population at the Georgetown Hospital, Guyana - abstract

ABSTRACT

The admissions registers of the Emergency Unit at the Public Hospital, Georgetown were reviewed for patients >10 years of age admitted for self poisoning between the 1 Jan. 1992 and 31 Dec. 1992. The ethnicity, gender, age group, prevalence and substance type was documented. There were 114 East Indians, 53 Africans and 1 Chinese admitted to the medical wards for self poisoning. All cases were parasucidal with rates of 55/10 (to the fifth power) and 57/10 (to the fifth power) for adults and adolescents, respectively. The ratio of East IndianAfrican attempters was 21 with a 1.51 ratio of East IndiansAfricans in the population. There were 79 males and 89 females. In the 10-19 year age group 52 cases of self poisoning were admitted. In the 20-29 age group there were 61 cases. In the 30-39 age group 28 cases and in the 40-59 year age group 13 cases were admitted. The youngest was 12 yrs and the oldest 90 yrs of age. The majority of cases (141/168 or 84 percent) wer in the 10-39 year age group. An average of 14 cases was admitted per month. The commonest known substances ingested were organophosphates (58 cases), household substances (40), medicinal tablets (26), kerosene oil(25) and grammoxone (10). Preventive measures, including education, should be targetted to farmers and youths and young adults in the 10-29 year age group in whom self-poisoning is most common.(AU)