LAUSR

Abstract Aim This study examined the trend and role of antipsychotics as a method of self-poisoning suicide. Materials and methods The basic data covered 483 poisoning suicides, occurring between the years 1988 and 2011, in Northern Finland, of which 178 (115 men, 63 women) were completed using antipsychotics. Results During the 23-year follow-up period, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) overtook first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) as a suicide method. Female victims, compared to males, had more commonly used quetiapine (17.5% vs. 6.1%, p = .016), while suicides using promazine were more common in males compared to females (36.5% vs. 22.2%, p = .049). People with unipolar depression had more frequently used SGAs (40.0%) or a combination of SGAs and FGAs (12.5%) than FGAs (19.2%) (p = .019) in their suicides. Conclusion The use of SGAs in suicides is becoming increasingly common, which calls for further studies.