[Suicide by poisoning in the Souss-Massa-Drâa region of Morocco].

INTRODUCTION: Deliberate self-poisoning is a serious problem in Morocco, including in the Souss-Massa-Drâa region. However, our understanding of the problem of suicidal poisoning remains limited.

SUBJECT: This paper aims to describe the characteristics of patients, toxic substances and poisoning and to identify the risk factors influencing patient outcomes.

METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of all cases of deliberate self-poisoning recorded between 1981 and 2007 by the Centre Anti-Poison et de Pharmacovigilance du Maroc.

RESULTS: 1,130 cases of self-poisoning were identified. The mean age was 25 ± 10.1 years and the sex ratio was 0.4. Paraphenylenediamine was the most common cause of death (48 deaths), followed by hydrochloric acid (15 deaths). A close relationship was found between progression to healing and female adolescents and between progression to death and men in other age groups. The study also found that patients who used paraphenylenediamine were twelve times more likely to die (CI95%: 7.4%-19.2%) than those who used other substances. Patients with respiratory and cardiovascular conditions had a relative risk of 9.8 (CI95%: 6.3%-16%) and 3.6 (CI95%: 2.3%-5.7%). Of the 937 cases with known outcome, 89 died (9.5%).