Weerasinghe Manjula, Konradsen Flemming, Eddleston Michael, Pearson Melissa, Agampodi Thilini, Storm Frederikke, Agampodi Suneth
PhD Fellow and Research Co-ordinator, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Saliyapura, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka and South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration (SACTRC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Professor, Head of section, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care. 2017 Apr;43(2):147-150. doi: 10.1136/jfprhc-2015-101171. Epub 2016 Mar 22.
Oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are one of the most popular family planning methods in Sri Lanka. As part of two hospital-based studies on self-harm, the use of OCPs was identified, from yet unpublished results, as a means of intentional self-poisoning. To inform future guidelines for better OCP promotion, this article aims to describe the extent, patient characteristics and outcomes of OCP self-poisoning in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka.
A secondary analysis was carried out on two hospital-based self-harm case series, from January 2011 to June 2014.
Fifty-four patients (52 women and two men) with an overdose of OCP as a means of intentional self-poisoning were admitted to one of the surveyed hospitals. The median age of the patients was 19 (interquartile range, 5) years. None of the patients were severely sick from their overdose and two-thirds of the patients were discharged within a day of admission. Intentional self-poisoning with OCPs represented less than 5% of all types of intentional medicine self-poisonings recorded at the hospitals. Information available for a subset of female patients indicates that many cases (13/23, 56.5%) were in their first year of marriage.
More research is required to understand why young women in rural Sri Lanka overdose with OCPs as a means of intentional self-poisoning. Although the toxicity of OCPs is low and the public health significance of OCP poisoning remains minor, reproductive health service providers should be attentive to OCP overdose, monitor the development of this problem, and ensure appropriate information to OCP users.
口服避孕药（OCPs）是斯里兰卡最流行的计划生育方法之一。作为两项基于医院的自残研究的一部分，从尚未发表的结果中发现，使用口服避孕药是一种故意自我中毒的手段。为了为未来更好地推广口服避孕药的指南提供依据，本文旨在描述斯里兰卡中北部省份口服避孕药自我中毒的程度、患者特征和结果。
对2011年1月至2014年6月期间两项基于医院的自残病例系列进行了二次分析。
54名患者（52名女性和2名男性）因过量服用口服避孕药作为故意自我中毒的手段而入住其中一家被调查医院。患者的中位年龄为19岁（四分位间距为5岁）。没有患者因过量服药而病情严重，三分之二的患者在入院一天内出院。在医院记录的所有类型的故意药物自我中毒中，口服避孕药故意自我中毒占比不到5%。部分女性患者的可用信息表明，许多病例（13/23，56.5%）处于结婚的第一年。
需要更多的研究来了解为什么斯里兰卡农村地区的年轻女性会过量服用口服避孕药作为故意自我中毒的手段。尽管口服避孕药的毒性较低，口服避孕药中毒对公共卫生的影响仍然较小，但生殖健康服务提供者应关注口服避孕药过量问题，监测这一问题的发展，并确保向口服避孕药使用者提供适当信息。
