Is there any difference of suicide attempts with drug intoxication in between pregnant and non-pregnant women?

Abstract

Objectives: So far insufficient data available to compare and estimate medical costs, hospitalization admission rate, and drugs used for treatment of pregnant and non-pregnant women admit to emergency department (ED) due to suicide attempts with drug intoxication. Therefore we sought to find out these differences in our ED.
Methods: It was a prospective cross-sectional study hence we attempted to follow all pregnant and non-pregnant women who have been admitted in our ED at Ataturk University, Erzurum-Turkey, due to suicide attempts with drug intoxication. We have tracked record of their management plan, estimate cost and also compare hospital admission rate in ED in both groups during 2008-2011.
Results: A total of 309 women were registered as a case of suicide attempt with drug intoxication. Out of these, 23 (7.4%) were pregnant and 286 (92.6%) were non-pregnant. The pregnant women had lower rate of past history of psychiatric illness as compared to non-pregnant women (4.3% vs. 26.2%; P=0.019). Comparison of drug intoxication in between pregnant and non-pregnant women showed higher rate of intake of organophosphate (39.1%; vs. 34.8% P<0,001) and paracetamol (39.1% vs. 19.9%; P=0.031) but lower rate of multidrug ingestion (39.1% vs. 67.8%; P=0.005). Furthermore, the pregnant women have lower rate of hospitalization in ED (56.5% vs. 77.6%), but higher rates of hospitalization in internal services (13% vs. 6.3%) and intensive care unit (13% vs. 3.1% P=0.039) compared to non-pregnant. Consequently, cost of therapy were also higher in pregnant (2553.5±6206.7 TL vs. 581.3±490.3 TL; P<0.001).
Conclusion: Though pregnant women admitted less as compared to non-pregnant women, however suicide attempts with drug intoxication among pregnant women fabricate more consequences in terms of high hospitalization and higher cost. Thus there is an urgent need to incorporate a special screening program to measure suicide risk followed by counseling for pregnant women during pre-conceptual care.