Voluntary self-poisoning as a cause of admission to a tertiary hospital internal medicine clinic in Piraeus, Greece within a year

BACKGROUND: Out of 1705 patients hospitalised for various reasons in the 3(rd) Internal Medicine Department of the Regional General Hospital of Nikaea, in Piraeus, 146(8,5%) persons were admitted for drug intoxication between November 1999 and November 2000. METHODS: On average, these persons [male 50(34,2%) – female 96(65,8%)] were admitted to the hospital within 3.7 hours after taking the drug. RESULTS: The drugs that were more frequently taken, alone or in combination with other drugs, were sedatives (67.1%), aspirins and analgesics (mainly paracetamol) (43.5%). 38.3% of patients had a mental illness history, 31.5% were in need of psychiatric help and 45.2% had made a previous suicide attempt. No death occurred during the above period and the outcome of the patients' health was normal. After mental state examination, the mental illnesses diagnosed were depression (20.96%), psychosis (15.32%), dysthymic disorder (16,2%), anxiety disorder (22.58%) and personality disorder (8.87%). CONCLUSIONS: Self-poisoning remains a crucial problem. The use of paracetamol and sedatives are particularly important in the population studied. Interpersonal psychiatric therapy may be a valuable treatment after people tried to poison themselves

Prevalence, and associated risk factors, of self-reported diabetes mellitus in a sample of adult urban population in Greece: MEDICAL Exit Poll Research in Salamis (MEDICAL EXPRESS 2002)

BACKGROUND: The continuous monitoring and future prediction of the growing epidemic of diabetes mellitus worldwide presuppose consistent information about the extent of the problem. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and to identify associated risk factors in a sample of adult urban Greek population. METHODS: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in municipality of Salamis, Greece, during an election day (2002). The study sample consisted of 2805 participants, aged 20–94 years. Data were collected using a standardized short questionnaire that was completed by a face-to-face interview. Multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association of diabetes with potential risk factors. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was 8.7% (95% CI 7.7–9.8%). After age adjustment for the current adult population (2001 census) of Greece, the projection prevalence was calculated to 8.2%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified as independent risk factors: increasing age (odds ratio, OR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.06–1.08), male sex (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.04–1.95), overweight and obesity (OR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.29–3.01 and OR = 3.76, 95% CI 2.41–5.86, respectively), family history of diabetes (OR = 6.91, 95% CI 5.11–9.34), hypertension (OR = 2.19, 95% CI 1.60–2.99) and, among women, lower educational level (OR = 2.62, 95% CI 1.22–5.63). The prevalence of overweight and obesity, based on self-reported BMI, were 44.2% and 18.4%, respectively. Moreover, the odds for diabetes in obese subjects with family history were 25-fold higher than those with normal weight and without family history of diabetes, while the odds in overweight subjects with family history of diabetes were 15-fold higher. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that the prevalence of diabetes is high in Greek population. It is suggested that the main modifiable contributing factor is obesity, whose effect is extremely increased upon positive heredity presence