{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T11:01:38Z","timestamp":1791543698835,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,28]],"date-time":"2021-09-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1632787200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A relatively high proportion of attempted suicides employ self-poisoning with medication. Data from emergency department presentations can help to identify possible risk drug classes and provide a basis for preventive measures. This retrospective analysis included cases presenting at the emergency department of the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland, from May 2012 to August 2016, after attempted suicide with drugs. We excluded attempted suicides with only alcohol or other non-medical substances. During the study period, there were 488 cases (466 patients) of attempted suicide with medical substances. The median patient age was 33 years (range 16\u201393) and 354 (73%) cases were female. The most commonly involved substances\/drug classes were benzo-diazepines (n = 167, 34%), neuroleptics (n = 114, 23%) and paracetamol (n = 111, 23%). A total of 231 (47%) cases employed only a single substance. Common symptoms included somnolence (n = 245, 50%), tachycardia (n = 119, 24%) and nausea\/vomiting (n = 76, 16%). In most cases, the poisoning was of minor severity (n = 231, 47%) and the patients were admitted to a psychiatric hospital (n = 264, 54%). Important preventive measures may include careful monitoring for suicidal behaviour when prescribing psychotropic drugs, in addition to restrictions in pack size. Efforts should also be made to enhance the awareness of health professionals qualified to prescribe or supply paracetamol.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph181910232","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,28]],"date-time":"2021-09-28T21:38:09Z","timestamp":1632865089000},"page":"10232","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Characteristics of Presentations to the Emergency Department Following Attempted Suicide with Drugs"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Mirjam","family":"Kummer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of General Internal Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9315-8138","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"M\u00fcller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Research Centre, University Hospital of Psychiatry, 3000 Bern, Switzerland"},{"name":"Privatklinik Meiringen, 3860 Meiringen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aristomenis K.","family":"Exadaktylos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8347-4145","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephan","family":"Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of General Internal Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland"},{"name":"Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, University Hospital Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2239-1378","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Evangelia","family":"Liakoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of General Internal Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (WHO) (2021, August 25). 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