The British Journal of Psychiatry 141: 166-170 (1982)
© 1982 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Hospital admissions for adverse effects of medicinal agents (mainly self-poisoning) among adolescents in the Oxford Region
K Hawton and M Goldacre
Hospital statistics for episodes coded as adverse effects of medicinal
agents' were used to study deliberate self-poisoning among people aged
12-20 years in the Oxford Region. Admission rates rose sharply from the age
of 12 years, more so for females than males, up to the age of 16 years in
females and 18 years in males. Analgesics, antipyretics and psychotropic
drugs were the agents most commonly used by both sexes and accounted for
three-quarters of all admissions. Admission rates varied from year to year,
but increased overall between 1974 and 1979, notably among people under 16
years of age. Admissions for 'adverse effects of medicinal agents'
accounted for 4.7 per cent of all general admissions among people aged
12-20 years.