Accidents and drug treatment in a psychiatric hospital

A survey of 351 accidents occurring in a two-year period in a psychiatric hospital showed that 77 per cent of the accidents involved female patients and 48 per cent involved patients with organic psychoses; 236 accidents were falls and 280 occurred in the ward setting. In 277 instances adequate controls were available. Seventy-five per cent of the accident patients had received a psychotropic drug on the day of the accident as opposed to 61 per cent of the controls. The possibility that the side-effects of psychotropic drugs may have contributed to some of these accidents is discussed.