Poisoning with antidepressive drugs: a five-year retrospective study

Abstract

From 1976 to 1980, there were 3,193 admissions due to acute drug overdosage at the Resuscitation Center of the Klinikum Charlottenburg of Berlin, Free University. We determined the frequency and characteristics of self-poisoning with antidepressants and some low potency neuroleptic drugs (perazine and thioridazine). These drugs were involved in 92 cases (i.e., 3%) during a 5-year period. Amitriptyline - in combination with a benzodiazepine - was the most common antidepressant taken by the patients. 10 of the patients required assisted ventilation. Complete ECG recordings were carried out in 24 patients; 21 of them had abnormalities comprising prolonged QTC and PR intervals (19, 15 and 8 patients, respectively). Sinus tachycardia was present in half of those patients. In no cases were convulsions or cardiac arrhythmias requiring special treatment described in the medical records. The percentage of patients showing ECG changes and respiratory depression was higher when other drugs such as ethanol were ingested along with antidepressants than when only antidepressants were taken. The incidence of antidepressant self-poisoning in this area was relatively low compared to the results of other studies. Possible explanations for its low frequency could be a low rate of prescription of antidepressants, a low dosage prescribed or the success of antidepressants in the treatment of depression and thereby in the prevention of attempted suicide.