[Voluntary acute drug poisoning in the health unit Navarra I, in 1989. Descriptive epidemiologic study]

Acute voluntary medicinal intoxications (AVMI) constitute a serious social-medical problem, frequently related to other problems, such as drug addiction and psychopathies. By means of a prospective study of AVMI cases seen in 1989 by the Emergency Room of Internal Medicine in our Hospital, and for persons over the age of 13 in the Health Area Navarra I, we can conclude that there is an incidence of 70.4/100,000 inhabitants, with a relative and absolute majority of females and of residents in urban areas. One third of cases had psychopathological case histories, while another third have a prior history of drug and/or alcohol abuse. The majority of patients are under 30. The peristaltic data seem to have only a tenuous relationship to the onset of AVMI, which mainly occurs at night. In 85% of cases, we are able to determine the causing factor. Psychopharmaceuticals are present in more than 60% of autolytic cases, the highest frequency belonging to benzodiazepines. In our environment, there is a high percentage of admittances despite the fact that a positive outcome is reached in virtually all cases: only 1 exitus out of 103 cases.