[Severe meprobamate poisoning: description of 146 cases in a French department]

Meprobamate poisoning are serious and sometimes fatal. Faced with a potential stop of marketing, we conducted a multicenter retrospective study to assess the severity criteria presented by patients admitted to the ICU for severe meprobamate poisoning, whether with alone form or in combination with aceprometazine. One hundred fourty-six patients have been enrolled between January 2005 and June 2011: 38 had a single meprobamate poisoning, 104 to meprobamate and aceprometazine and 4 to both forms. At admission, 88% of patients exhibited coma (Glasgow ≤ 7) and half of them a systolic blood pressure ≤ 90 mmHg. Mortality rate was 3%. Our results did not find any significant between-group difference, either in regard of clinical or biological severity criteria. These data argue for a cessation of marketing of all meprobamate-based specialities.

[Evaluation using DSM-III of the clinical activity of a psychiatry department at a general hospital]

The DSM-III multiaxial classification was used to evaluate the one-year clinical activity of a psychiatry and medical psychology department in a general hospital. Compared to the general population, the patients (n = 1,071) corresponded to a sample of professionally active subjects in which top and middle executives as well as students were over=represented. Fifty-one per cent of the patients suffered from anxiety or affective disorders, while 9 per cent presented somatoform disorders. Histrionic and dependent personalities were more frequent in women. Thirty six per cent of the subjects had a concurrent physical illness. Psychosocial stress and altered adaptation were higher in unemployed people and in patients with physical illness. Specific diagnostic and socioprofessional patterns corresponded to the various types of mental care: psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy, behaviour therapy, psychopharmacological treatments, consultation-liaison, pain consultation.