In a series of patients given hydroxychloroquine sulphate by mouth before and after major surgery the incidence of deep venous thrombosis in the legs, as assessed by iodine-125-tagged fibrinogen scanning and venography, was reduced to 5% compared with an incidence of 16% in a similar untreated group of patients.
was limited to one interview or occasionally two. Their prognosis tended to be worse than that of more intensively treated patients (Tables I and IV), and our results indicate that many of the patients who had only brief psychiatric contact subsequently benefited from further psychiatric treatment (Table II). The specific characteristics of patients who benefit mostand least-from psychiatric treatment will be described in a subsequent paper (Bagley and Greer, 1971).It was surprising to discover that more than one-fifth of the present series had no psychiatric contact whatsoever following their suicidal attempt. In most cases these patients were sent home because the casualty officer considered that there was no medical danger and the suicidal attempt was therefore a trivial matter. Our findings indicate that this assumption is both mistaken, since the degree of medical danger was not related to prognosis, and dangerous, since 39% of untreated patients made further suicidal attempts and 4.5% killed themselves within 18 months. These results lend force to the Central Health Services Council's (1968) recommendations: "All cases of deliberate self-poisoning should be referred to a designated poisoning centre, regardless of the seriousness or otherwise of their medical condition . . . they should never be sent home without undergoing psychiatric assessment."The present study shows that psychiatric treatment was associated with a significant fall in incidence of subsequent suicidal attempts. Since untreated patients are particularly liable to repeat suicidal attempts, and since multiple suicidal attempts increase the probability of eventual suicide (Ettlinger, 1964), it seems likely that adequate facilities for psychiatric treatment could save lives as well as reduce the repeat rate for parasuicide.We thank the patients whose co-operation made this study possible; Professor J. Anderson and Dr. D. Liddell for their encouragement; and Mr. I. Corkindale, who searched the General Register Office records for death entries.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.