ArticleBMJ open2019
Trends in self-poisoning and psychotropic drug use in people aged 5-19 years: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Australia.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- The longitudinal course of childhood bullying victimization and associations with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in children and young people: A systematic review of the literature.Journal of adolescence · 2023Pooled it
- Adapting a codesign process with young people to prioritize outcomes for a systematic review of interventions to prevent self-harm and suicide.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Pooled it
- Interventions for self-harm in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Did the COVID-19 pandemic impact on time trends in self-poisoning in youth? A sex-specific national register-based interrupted time-series analysis in Sweden.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- Demographic characteristics and repeat overdose risk factors in 601 patients with intentional drug overdose in the emergency department: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Stressful life events and non-suicidal self-injury among college students: chain mediating effect analysis of resilience and emotion dysregulation.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The risk of death after hospitalisation following intentional self-poisoning: a retrospective observational study (PAVLOVA-2).The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Observational
- Article
- The relative toxicity of medicines detected after poisoning suicide deaths in Australia, 2013-19: a data linkage case series study.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Article
- Intended and suicidal trauma to the anterior neck in Finnish young adults.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2025Article
- Clinical course and demographic insights into suicide by self-poisoning: patterns of substance use and socio-economic factors.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Risk Factors and Clinical Predictors of Suicidal Behaviors and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Pediatric Psychiatry Emergency Admissions Pre- and Post-Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Interrupting the Cycle: Association of Parental Stress and Child/Youth Psychotropic Medication Nonadherence.Child psychiatry and human development · 2024Article
- Long-term cost-utility analysis of family therapy vs. treatment as usual for young people seen after self-harm.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2024Article
- Global prevalence of psychosocial assessment following hospital-treated self-harm: systematic review and meta-analysis.BJPsych open · 2024Review
- Psychotropic and other medicine use at time of death by suicide: a population-level analysis of linked dispensing and forensic toxicology data.The Medical journal of Australia · 2023Article
- Trends and Prevalence of Hospital Admissions Related to Deliberate Self-Poisoning and Used Substances in Romanian Adolescents between 2016 and 2022.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Article
- Life problems in children and adolescents who self-harm: findings from the multicentre study of self-harm in England.Child and adolescent mental health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo characterise trends in self-poisoning and psychotropic medicine use in young Australians.
designPopulation-based retrospective cohort study.
settingCalls taken by the New South Wales and Victorian Poisons Information Centres (2006-2016, accounting for 70% of Australian poisoning calls); medicine dispensings in the 10% sample of Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data (July 2012 to June 2016).
participantsPeople aged 5-19 years.
main outcome measuresYearly trends in intentional poisoning exposure calls, substances taken in intentional poisonings, a prevalence of psychotropic use (dispensing of antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)).
resultsThere were 33 501 intentional poisonings in people aged 5-19 years, with an increase of 8.39% per year (95% CI 6.08% to 10.74%, p<0.0001), with a 98% increase overall, 2006-2016. This effect was driven by increased poisonings in those born after 1997, suggesting a birth cohort effect. Females outnumbered males 3:1. Substances most commonly taken in self-poisonings were paracetamol, ibuprofen, fluoxetine, ethanol, quetiapine, paracetamol/opioid combinations, sertraline and escitalopram. Psychotropic dispensing also increased, with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) increasing 40% and 35% July 2012 to June 2016 in those aged 5-14 and 15-19, respectively. Fluoxetine was the most dispensed SSRI. Antipsychotics increased by 13% and 10%, while ADHD medication dispensing increased by 16% and 10%, in those aged 5-14 and 15-19, respectively. Conversely, dispensing of benzodiazepines to these age groups decreased by 4% and 5%, respectively.
conclusionsOur results signal a generation that is increasingly engaging in self-harm and is increasingly prescribed psychotropic medications. These findings indicate growing mental distress in this cohort. Since people who self-harm are at increased risk of suicide later in life, these results may foretell future increases in suicide rates in Australia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.