International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-780231201103123641ENAssociate Professor of of Toxicology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranDepartment of Psychiatry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.PhD, Isfahan Clinical Toxicology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.Department of Clinical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.General Physician, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.2011020220110307Background: Prevention of&nbsp; suicide is one of&nbsp; the most important <br />issues of&nbsp; community medicine in the world. Because of&nbsp; high <br />accessibility of&nbsp; people to different drugs in our society, one of &nbsp;<br />the easiest ways of&nbsp; suicide is intentional self‑poisoning. In this <br />study, demographic factors and health status of&nbsp; the patients with intentional self‑poisoning were evaluated.<br />Methods: A cross‑sectional study was conducted in the poisoning <br />referral center on 384 patients aged 15&ndash;40&nbsp; years who committed intentional self‑poisoning. Information was gathered using two questionnaires about demographic characteristics and the general health status of&nbsp; the patients.<br />Results: 70.5% of&nbsp; the patients had easy accessibility to drugs. Most of&nbsp; the patients were women (62.5%) and single (51%). History of&nbsp; psychological disease was demonstrated in 82.5% of&nbsp; patients. In terms of&nbsp; general health status, the most common problems were social dysfunction (97.57%) and depression (88.9%).<br />Conclusion: Easy accessibility to drugs and psychological problems may increase the risk of&nbsp; intentional self‑poisoning. Being religious and the consequent hopefulness may have a positive protecting effect for the prevention of&nbsp; intentional self‑poisoning.<br />Keywords: Demographic characteristics, general health status, <br />intentional self‑poisoning, suicidehttp://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/118http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/118/379