Actes auto-agressifs avec substance chez les moins de 18 ans : étude prospective des cas régulés par le centre antipoison et de toxicovigilance de Marseille

Objectives

To describe poison exposures in case of self-poisoning subjects younger than 18 years old reported to the Marseille Poison Control Center.

Patients and method

This is a descriptive, monocentric and prospective review of self-poisoning patients aged < 18 years who reported to the Marseille Poison Control Center from 1st October 2021 to 31st January 2022.

Results

The 308 subjects included were aged 11 to 17 years with an average age of 14.9 years (±1.5) for girls and 14.6 (±1.7) for boys (P = 0.234). The sex ratio was 0.14. Two hundred and forty patients (77.9%) already had prior psychological or psychiatric follow-up. It was a recurrence of suicide attempts in 43.8% of cases (n = 135). The use of an emergency department was almost systematic (n = 277, 89.9%). Most of these were mono-intoxications (n = 193, 62.7%). The poisonings were in most cases drug-induced (n = 281, 91.2%). Analgesics-antipyretics were the most used drug class (n = 147 patients, 47.7%), followed by anxiolytics (n = 62, 20.1%). Paracetamol proved to be the most ingested substance (n = 108, 35.1%). One hundred and six patients remained asymptomatic (34.4%). Of the 308 cases included, 78.6% were hospitalized for an average of four days. Two hundred forty-nine cases (80.8%) had one psychiatric evaluation in an emergency department and 200 (64.9%) will have an appointment for a psychiatric consultation on discharge.

Discussion

The demographic characteristics of young suicides and those of intoxication were globally like those found in the literature although our recurrence rate was higher than those in the literature. More than two years after the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the malaise of young people remains while the care offer is already saturated. To reverse the trend by 2027 the French Ministry of Health and Prevention has updated its national prevention strategy by various means. A subsequent study could be interesting to see the impact of these measures.

Conclusion

This study is limited but seems to complement some indicators, which shows that the pediatric mental health crisis is worsening, especially among the youngest adolescents who have an increased recurrence rate. We must remain vigilant and continue to implement screening actions and means of prevention, particularly of recurrences.