Abstract
Abstract Objective: to characterize suicidally motivated intoxication by psychoactive drugs among elderly people. Method: a retrospective and documentary study with a quantitative approach was carried out, based on the notification forms of 692 cases of suicidally motivated intoxications by psychoactive drugs, registered by the Centro de Assistência Toxicológica (the Toxicological Care Center) in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil from 2010 to 2014. The absolute and relative frequencies of social conditions, intoxication episodes and clinical conducts were obtained, and the Chi-squared Test was applied with a significance of p≤0.05. Results: elderly people aged between 60 and 69 years (65.9%), who were female and retired predominated. The most frequently used psychoactive drugs were antidepressants (48.3%) and anxiolytics/hypnotics (29.0%). The most frequent clinical conducts were the use of activated charcoal and gastric lavage. Moderate poisoning was the most frequent, and the main outcome was discharge arising from cure. There was a significant relationship between the elderly persons and gender, occupation, occurrence of intoxication at home, clinical manifestation and hospital admission. Conclusion: suicidally motivated poisoning by psychoactive drugs in elderly persons suggests the need to promote active aging, as well as the access to and rational use of these drugs, thereby reducing harm and preserving the lives of elderly persons.
Highlights
Objective: to characterize suicidally motivated intoxication by psychoactive drugs among elderly people
A study about the suicide of the elderly, using the psychological autopsy technique in which post mortem information about the circumstances and situations of the suicide is gathered together, reported that between 71 and 95% of elderly people who committed suicide were diagnosed with a mental disorder at the time of death, while from 71 to 90% suffered from some degree of depression[3,8]
There was a low incidence of suicidally motivated intoxication by psychoactive drugs among the elderly, the possibility of underreporting should be considered
Summary
Was observed that there are no programs, actions or strategies directed at the safe use of psychoactive. A study about the suicide of the elderly, using the psychological autopsy technique in which post mortem information about the circumstances and situations of the suicide is gathered together, reported that between 71 and 95% of elderly people who committed suicide were diagnosed with a mental disorder at the time of death, while from 71 to 90% suffered from some degree of depression[3,8] In this context, the holistic conception is often neglected in favor of the indiscriminate use of psychoactive drugs, based on the medicalization of the elderly, which is strongly influenced by the biomedical model[10,11,12]. All the treatment records of elderly persons who fit the following inclusion criteria were analyzed: aged at least 60 years at the time of being treated at CEATOX, registration of medication as cause of intoxication, and diagnostic classification in accordance with the International Code of Diseases (CID-10)
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