Pattern of Poisoning Cases in Bir Hospital

Abstract

Background: Poisoning is one of the major causes of hospitalization through emergency and is a major public health problem in the country. For starting preventive measures, information on nature and extent of poisoning is required. For some years, there has been no study on poisoning at Bir hospital. Objectives: To find out the patient profile, the common poisons and outcome of poisoning cases. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of all acute poisoning cases admitted to the emergency department of Bir Hospital from January 2005 to June 2005 was done to study the pattern of acute poisoning at Bir Hospital. Data on age, sex, time elapsed after intake, circumstances of poisoning, name of the poisonous substance, actual use, chemical type, hospitalization days, severity and outcome were collected and analyzed. Results: The age of the patients varied from 16 to 65 years. The male female ratio was 1:1.3. More than three-fourth (76.8%) of the female patients were from 16 to 25 years age group. Similarly, 46.5% of the male patients were from 16 to 25 years age group. In more than 25 years of age, there was male predominance in all the age group. The common insecticides used for poisoning were organophosphorus compounds mainly Methyl Parathion (Metacid) and Dichlorovos (Nuvan). Paracetamol alone or combination preparations with antihistamines were the most common analgesic used. Benzodiazepines were the most commonly used anxiolytics. Ninety-seven percent of cases were intentional poisoning for suicidal attempt. Most of the cases (61.6%) had arrived hospital within 3 hours after exposure to the poison. The hospital stay of the admitted patients with poisoning ranged from one to sixteen days. The mean hospital stay was 5.9 days. During the hospital stay, six (6.0%) cases were managed in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) service. In this study, only 3% cases had mortality. There were 5 cases of Aluminium Phosphide poisoning but surprisingly, none of them died from this highly toxic poison. Conclusion: Suicide among adolescents and young adults is a common public health problem. Patients with intentional poisoning must undergo psychiatric consultation during their stay in the hospital for the treatment poisoning. This will minimize the risk of next attempt of self harm. In addition, strict rules must be followed regarding sale of psychotropic medicines and pesticides. Effective clinical management of poisoning can minimize the mortality. Journal of Institute of Medicine Vol.28(1) 2006