Background Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are used in a higher number of suicide attempts; however, the characteristics of patients engaging in first-time attempts with OTC drugs vs prescription medications remain poorly understood. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the clinical characteristics of such patients and risk factors for OTC drug use for suicide attempts. Methods We retrospectively analyzed patients who attempted first-time overdose and were transported to the Tokai University Hospital, Japan (n = 125). Patients were grouped by those who overdosed on OTC drugs only (OTC, n = 29) and those on prescription drugs (non-OTC, n = 96). We analyzed their medical records and performed a multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify their social background and clinical characteristics, including the International Code of Diseases (ICD)-10 diagnoses. Results OTC and non-OTC groups had a significantly higher proportion of ICD-10 F4 (75.9%; P = 0.002) and F3 (32.3%; P = 0.020) cases, respectively. Moreover, younger age and student status were significantly associated with OTC drug overdose. Lack of a history of psychiatric disease was significantly correlated with OTC drug use. Conclusion These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions and educational programs aimed at young individuals and students to prevent first-time suicide attempts using OTC drugs.
Onishi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.