BACKGROUND Suicide reduction is government strategy in many countries. We need to quantify the connection between non-fatal self-poisoning and eventual suicide. AIMS To determine mortality after an episode of self-poisoning and to identify predictors of death by any cause or by suicide. METHOD A retrospective single-group cohort study was undertaken with 976 consecutive patients attending a...

BACKGROUND Acute poisoning incidents are one of the leading causes of morbidity and hospitalization in several countries. The purpose of this analysis was to compare the patterns of acute poisoning in three countries namely, Botswana, South Africa and Uganda; and examine the similarities and disparities in the patterns of occurrence of acute poisoning based on the sociodemographic factors of th...

Many plants contain toxic alkaloids which may be dangerous to humans. Despite the large number of poisonous plants, cases of fatal plant poisonings are relatively rare. The frequencies of poisonings and the plants involved are often regionally specific. Plant poisonings can be aggregated into three categories: unintended ingestions, intended ingestions, and poisoning due to abuse of plant mater...

Carbon monoxide (CO) may be the cause of more than one-half of the fatal poisonings reported in many countries; fatal cases also are grossly under-reported or misdiagnosed by medical professionals. Therefore, the precise number of individuals who have suffered from CO intoxication is not known. The health effects associated with exposure to CO range from the more subtle cardiovascular and neuro...

Introduction: Due to dissimilarities in the availability of poisons in different areas and lack of enough control over the purchase and sale of some dangerous rodenticides, it is prudent to establish the distribution of rodenticide poisoning in each region. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the demographic factors, types of poisons, duration of hospitalization and mortality of pat...

BACKGROUND Methods used at an index episode of non-fatal self-harm may predict risk of future suicide. Little is known of suicide risk associated with most recent non-fatal method, and whether or not change in method is important. METHODS A prospective cohort of 30,202 patients from the Multicentre Study of Self-harm in England presenting to six hospitals with self-harm, 2000-2007, was follow...