Læknablaðið - 15.03.1984, Qupperneq 35

LÆKNABLADID
103
amitriptyline plus nortriptyline were on an average
higher in cases of poisoning with ámitriptyline alone
than with amitriptyline and other drugs (cf. tables II
& III). The differences were on all occasions statisti-
cally significant (P<0.05). Other non-antidepressant
drugs that were considered to contribute to death
were carisoprodol, chlordiazepoxide, clozapine, dia-
zepam, ethanol (10 cases), meprobamat, pentobarbi-
tal, promethazine, salicylic acid and trifluoperazine.
Organ levels in cases of poisoning with other
antidepressant drugs (table IV) were found compar-
able to those in cases of amitriptyline poisonings
(tables II & III). The resltlts indicated that the inci-
dence of death due to antidepressant drugs in Iceland
was relatively high in the period under observation.
Interestingly, there appeared to be concurrent
increase in death rates and sales of antidepressant
drugs during the years 1978 and 1979 (figs. 2 & 3).
The results furthermore indicated that although
many of the cases must be due to intake of excessive
amounts of the drugs, death might also occur due to
intake of antidepressant drugs in therapeutic doses
together with relatively small amounts of ethanol or
possibly other drugs.
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