Substances involved in fatal drug overdoses in Brisbane, 1979-1987

Suicide rates may be reduced by decreasing the availability, cultural acceptance or lethality of certain methods of suicide. With these principles in mind fatal overdoses in Brisbane 1979-1987 were surveyed for substances involved. Psychotropic agents, especially barbiturates predominated. Chloral h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inActa psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplementum Vol. 354; p. 69
Main Author Cantor, C H
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Denmark 01.01.1989
Subjects
Cause of Death
Cross-Sectional Studies
Drug Overdose - mortality
Humans
Incidence
Psychotropic Drugs - poisoning
Queensland - epidemiology
Risk Factors
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
Queensland
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Summary:Suicide rates may be reduced by decreasing the availability, cultural acceptance or lethality of certain methods of suicide. With these principles in mind fatal overdoses in Brisbane 1979-1987 were surveyed for substances involved. Psychotropic agents, especially barbiturates predominated. Chloral hydrate was far the most commonly implicated single compound. A case is put for curtailing the availability of barbiturates and chloral hydrate. This combined with increasing detection of depressed persons may lead to a further rise in overdoses involving antidepressants which as a group require reduction in their lethality.
ISSN:0065-1591
1600-5473
DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1989.tb03049.x