Anne Marbella, MS¹, Hongyan Yang, MS¹, and Peter Layde, MD, MSc². (1) Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, 414-456-4725, marbella.enteract@rcn.com, (2) Wisconsin Injury Research Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, 9200 W. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53226

Purpose: To examine hospital admissions for medication-related injuries in adolescents in Wisconsin, 2000-2002, with a focus on drugs used and on potential risk factors for self-poisonings. Methods: Adolescent discharges from the Wisconsin Bureau of Health Information inpatient discharge files from 2000-2002 were evaluated. All drug-related injuries and the subset of drug-related injuries classified as intentional/suicidal were analyzed for type of drug used, discharge status, and risk factors such as mental illness, eating disorders, and alcohol use. Results: Females aged 13-17 years had over twice as many drug-related injuries as males of the same ages. Twenty-two percent of the drug-related injuries were classified as intentional/suicidal, and 38% occurred in patients with a mental disorder diagnosis noted on discharge. Detailed drug category analyses revealed that non-narcotic analgesics were the drugs most related to a medical injury. Among specified drugs, they had the highest rate of intentionality (57%). A large proportion of intentional/suicidal drug-related injuries were discharged to another facility (35%), compared to 7% among all medical injuries. Males with drug-related injuries were 5 times more likely and females twice as likely to have intentional/suicidal injuries if they also used alcohol. Both males and females with drug-related injuries were twice as likely to have intentional/suicidal injuries if they also had an eating disorder. Conclusions: A large proportion of medical injuries among adolescents are drug-related, with females demonstrating a higher risk than males. Non-narcotic analgesics, which are easily accessible to adolescents, were responsible for most of the drug-related admissions and for the most known intentional/suicidal injuries.

Learning Objectives:

• To gain an understanding of drugs used and risk factors for adolescent self-poisoning.

Keywords: Child/Adolescent Mental Health, Suicide

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.