A retrospective descriptive study of the characteristics of deliberate self-poisoning patients with single or repeat presentations to an Australian emergency medicine network in a one year period

Table 1 Characteristics of patients presenting with deliberate self-poisoning in 2011

	SPP	RPP	OR^¥	95% CI^¥
Number	755	93
Age	35.0 [23.7-45.0]	37.0 [26.1-43.6]	0.99	0.98-1.01
Female	485 (64.2)	60 (64.5)	1.10	0.70-1.72
Marital Status
Married/ Defacto	274 (39.4)	30 (32.6)	1.13	0.47-1.18
Single^€	422 (60.6)	62 (67.4)
Employment			1.17^§	0.97-1.41^§
Employed	237 (40.7)	22 (28.6)
Student	50 (8.6)	3 (3.9)
Unemployed	232 (39.9)	47 (61.0)
Retired/Pensioner	20 (3.4)	0 (0)
Home duties	43 (7.4)	5 (6.5)
Unemployed^δ	232 (39.9)	47 (61.0)	2.36	1.45-3.85
Psychiatric history^£	120 (15.5)	34 (36.6)	3.05	1.92-4.85

Data presented as number (%) or median [inter-quartile range]. ^¥Univariate logistic regression test of SPP versus; ^€Single includes widows/separated/divorced; ^§Statistical test of employment distribution; ^δStatistical test of unemployed versus ‘others’; ^£Psychiatric history includes personality disorder, bipolar affective disorder or schizophrenia. SPP: Single poisoning presentation, RPP: Repeat poisoning presentation.

ISSN: 1471-227X