Abstract

Backgrounds

South Korea, a nation with rapidly aging population, has the highest suicide rates in the world, and the elderly have a suicide rate three times higher than the national average. We classified the drugs ingested for suicide attempts by age groups and compare the clinical outcomes between non-elderly and elderly patients who attempted suicide by ingesting drugs.

Materials and methods

Data were obtained from the nationwide Emergency Department-Based Injury Surveillance of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, South Korea between January 2011 and December 2016.

Results

There were 12,104 patients who attempted suicide by ingesting drugs, of whom the elderly (73.5%) ingested more sedatives and hypnotics than the non-elderly (53.9%); of these drugs, zolpidem ingestion was higher in the elderly than the non-elderly. Conversely, the non-elderly ingested more antipsychotics and antidepressants (15.9%) and analgesics (10.8%) than the elderly (7.4% and 2.8%, respectively). The elderly had longer hospital stay, higher intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate, and higher mortality rate than the non-elderly: more elderly patients (30.2%) were admitted to the ICU than the non-elderly (15.7%); the duration of hospital stays was 6.27 ± 11.35 days in the elderly and 8.94 ± 14.85 days in the non-elderly; and the mortality rate was 0.4% in the non-elderly and 3.0% in the elderly.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that zolpidem has become the greatest risk factor for the elderly Koreans in suicide attempts. Further prevention efforts are needed to prevent suicide among the elderly.

中文翻译：

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唑吡坦是韩国老年人自杀的高危因素

摘要

背景

韩国是一个人口迅速老龄化的国家，其自杀率是世界上最高的，老年人的自杀率是全国平均水平的三倍。我们按年龄组对因自杀未遂而摄入的药物进行分类，并比较非老年人和因摄入药物企图自杀的老年患者的临床结果。

材料和方法

数据来自 2011 年 1 月至 2016 年 12 月期间韩国疾病控制和预防中心的全国基于急诊科的伤害监测。

结果

有12104名患者吸毒未遂，其中老年人（73.5%）服用镇静催眠药多于非老年人（53.9%）；在这些药物中，老年人的唑吡坦摄入量高于非老年人。相反，非老年人摄入的抗精神病药和抗抑郁药（15.9%）和镇痛药（10.8%）多于老年人（分别为7.4%和2.8%）。与非老年人相比，老年人住院时间更长，重症监护病房（ICU）入院率更高，死亡率更高：入住ICU的老年患者（30.2%）多于非老年人（15.7%）；老年人住院时间为6.27±11.35天，非老年人为8.94±14.85天；非老年人死亡率为0.4%，老年人死亡率为3.0%。

结论

调查结果表明，唑吡坦已成为韩国老年人自杀未遂的最大危险因素。需要进一步的预防工作来防止老年人自杀。