The epidemiologic study of deliberate self- harm (poisoning) in Shahroud

Introduction: Suicide is the basic urgency of psychiatry and one of the greatest problems of human. With this regard, this study was done to determine the characteristics of the attempters and materials that were used for self- harm. Methods: This cross- sectional study was carried out on 383 patients admitted to Imam Hossein hospital in Shahroud during July 2002-2003. The data were collected through questionnaires filled by health workers and analysed using SPSS software. Results: During one year period, 383 patients (163 males and 220 females) with poisoning were admitted. The group age of 15-30 years had the most frequency in deliberate self- harm(80.4%), the single persons included 61.9% and 48.8% of cases had less than 12 schooling years education. 88.5% of attempters were from urban areas. In 341 patients, the suicide attempts were with drugs, and banzodiazepins (26%) were the most common used drugs. Conclusion: This study has shown that deliberate self-harm attempters were remarkable among youth and single persons and preventine affairs can include the investigation of these group,s problems. The main clinical issues are the assessment of suicide risk and the management of deliberate self – harm.