According to the collected data, the average age of minors who were inebriated and who were attempting suicide was 15. Having compared these data to the statistics of other countries, we noticed a similar trend: the average age of minors who were deliberately intoxicated ranged between 14.5 and 16.0 [6, 7, 13].
The gender distribution was as follows: boys were more often hospitalized due to deliberate intoxication with the intention of becoming inebriated, whereas girls were more often hospitalized due to deliberate intoxication with the intention of committing suicide. Similar data can be found in other countries. In the Netherlands and Slovakia, boys were more often the ones attempting to become inebriated using alcohol [7, 13] and, in Australia and the Czek Republic, girls were more often the ones attempting to commit suicide [10, 14].
Moreover, during our research, we noticed that the highest numbers of attempts at intoxication with the intention of inebriation were recorded during the winter time, while attempts at committing suicide using medication were most frequent during the spring. A study conducted in the Czech Republic also showed that most minors attempted to commit suicide using medications in the springtime [10]. This coincides with several literature reviews regarding suicide seasonality, suggesting attempts at suicide become more frequent in the spring season [15, 16].
The severity of intoxication was evaluated based on the GCS scale and the blood alcohol content. This study determined that minors who were intoxicated with alcohol and drugs were in a worse condition. We believe that the reason behind this is that the minors who were intoxicated with alcohol overdid it without understanding their own limits, whereas minors who were attempting to overdose on medication wanted to attract attention to their problems; they eventually confessed this to their relatives out of fear of death, which is why their GCS scores were higher.
GCS scores in other studies researching minors attempting to become intoxicated have been similar to those of our results: the mediane GCS score of studies conducted in Germany was 12.21 [17], while the median GCS score acquired through research conducted in Melbourne was 12, whith the average blood alcohol content in this study was 45.67 ± 14.22 mmol/l [14]. The blood alcohol content ranged from 1.76 to 1.98 g/l in the other studies, or 38.4–42.9 mmol/l [6, 7].
We would like to mention that during the period 2015–2017, synthetic cannabinoids were a dominant substance among those intoxicated with drugs—this is a drug that is difficult to identify. In order to determine what the patient is intoxicated with, specialists must attain the patient’s medical history, the accuracy of which is often dubious because teenagers tend to lie and negate. Since there may be no way of accurately identifying what the minor has consumed and what chemical substances were in the compound, it can be difficult to assign treatment. Considering data collected in Lithuania and other countries, synthetic cannabinoids are rising in popularity and are often the cause of serious health problems [18, 19].
In this study, minors who intoxicated themselves using medication often consumed benzodiazepine-type drugs. According to a study conducted in Australia, the most common drugs used in an attempt of self-poisoning were paracetamol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, whereas sedatives and hypnotics were used by only 5% [14]. In a study conducted in the Slovak Republic, it was determined that 39% of cases, when a medication was used in an attempt to commit suicide, involved medicine that affected the nervous system [7].
Minors who were attempting to intoxicate themselves using medication were most often the ones who also harmed themselves cutting. Research conducted in other parts of the world on the issue of self-harm suggests that both self-harming adults and minors tend to seek to extinguish anxiety, stress, and bad feelings with alcohol or other psychoactive substances [20]. According to multiple authors, deliberate self-harm among minors who attempted to commit suicide is a very frequent occurrence [21].
The currently conducted study included 28 minors who were hospitalized recurrently. The results show that as the number of hospitalizations of the same minors’ increases (girls were more often hospitalized recurrently than boys), the ratio of hospitalized minors living in orphanages also increased. Furthermore, deliberate self-harm was also more frequent.
Another very significant aspect is that a significant number of minors admitted to the hospital due to deliberate intoxication were from children’s care homes. Considering that approximately 4000 minors in Lithuanian live in non-family situations, which constitutes 0.8% of people less than 18 years of age, we are able to assess the scope of this problem. Most minors become intoxicated with the intention of becoming inebriated, which is why caretakers should ensure the psychosocial health of minors being raised in orphanages.
At the moment, the Lithuanian Child Care System is undergoing reform, the aim of which is to close down all children’s care homes by 2030 and to relocate orphans to live with small families in a natural home setting. Having collected results from a study that was conducted prior to the reform, it will be interesting to study how the situation changes after implementation of the reform.
Research conducted in the Netherlands determined that only 1.5% of minors admitted to the hospital due to alcohol poisoning were from orphanages [23]. Most studies show that the presence of a stable and supportive family reduces the risk of dangerous minor behavior. Studies also suggest that minors living in families with close social ties and support are less likely to suffer from mental disorders [24]. This type of relationship is exactly what minors living in orphanages lack.