@article{ref1,
title="Change in profile of acute self drug-poisonings over a 10-year period",
journal="Human and experimental toxicology",
year="2004",
author="Staikowsky, Frederik and Theil, Florence and Mercadier, Paule and Candella, Sebastien and Benais, J. P.",
volume="23",
number="11",
pages="507-511",
abstract="All acute, deliberate, drug-poisoning-related emergency department visits over two periods of one year, 1992-1993 (P1) and 2001-2002 (P2), were reviewed to investigate trends in substances used for acute self drug-poisonings over a 10-year period. For P1 and P2 respectively, 804 and 830 episodes of acute self drug-poisonings were compared. For the two studied periods, psycholeptic drugs predominated (78 and 77%); however, benzodiazepines declined (67 to 55%; P &lt;0.01) and antidepressants increased (9.5 to 15%; P &lt;0.01). Moreover, the type of antidepressant changed markedly with a decrease of the imipraminic antidepressants (48.4 to 10.7%) and an increase of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (31.2 to 74%). The proportion of benzodiazepine-related drugs increased with time (7.9 to 14.1%). The proportion of analgesics was 5.4% for P1 and 7.3% for P2; paracetamol, alone or associated to other compounds, remained the most incriminated. Nevertheless, opioids were more often mentioned during the later period (11.6 to 24.5%). The trend of the different pharmacological families used in acute self drug-poisonings is not fundamentally different over a 10-year period. However, there are some qualitative modifications, which are important for readjusting the emergency physician's toxicological knowledge and public health actions.<br />",
language="",
issn="0960-3271",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}