Arja Mainio1, Liisa Kuusisto1, Helinä Hakko2, Pirkko Riipinen2. 1. Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. 2. Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.
Abstract
AIM: This study examined the trend and role of antipsychotics as a method of self-poisoning suicide. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The basic data covered 483 poisoning suicides, occurring between the years 1988 and 2011, in Northern Finland, of which 178 (115 men, 63 women) were completed using antipsychotics. RESULTS: During the 23-year follow-up period, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) overtook first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) as a suicide method. Female victims, compared to males, had more commonly used quetiapine (17.5% vs. 6.1%, p = .016), while suicides using promazine were more common in males compared to females (36.5% vs. 22.2%, p = .049). People with unipolar depression had more frequently used SGAs (40.0%) or a combination of SGAs and FGAs (12.5%) than FGAs (19.2%) (p = .019) in their suicides. CONCLUSION: The use of SGAs in suicides is becoming increasingly common, which calls for further studies.
AIM: This study examined the trend and role of antipsychotics as a method of self-poisoning suicide. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The basic data covered 483 poisoning suicides, occurring between the years 1988 and 2011, in Northern Finland, of which 178 (115 men, 63 women) were completed using antipsychotics. RESULTS: During the 23-year follow-up period, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) overtook first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) as a suicide method. Female victims, compared to males, had more commonly used quetiapine (17.5% vs. 6.1%, p = .016), while suicides using promazine were more common in males compared to females (36.5% vs. 22.2%, p = .049). People with unipolar depression had more frequently used SGAs (40.0%) or a combination of SGAs and FGAs (12.5%) than FGAs (19.2%) (p = .019) in their suicides. CONCLUSION: The use of SGAs in suicides is becoming increasingly common, which calls for further studies.