A Study of Acute Poisoning Cases Admitted to the National Poisoning Center

Jump To References Section

Authors

  • ,EG
  • ,EG
  • ,EG
  • ,EG

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18311/ti/2018/v25i2/23191

Keywords:

Acute Poisoning, Epidemiology, Poisoning Center

Abstract

Objectives: There is a necessity to study the pattern of poisoning of patients who visited national poisoning centers to take up appropriate management and prevention techniques. Methods: This study includes all cases of human poisoning exposures (11181 poisoning cases) presenting to the national poisoning center, Cairo, from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016. The data were statistically analyzed to assess a correlation for a gender, age, agents and poisoning type. Results: It was found that 24% of patients were younger than 4 years. The female-to-male ratio was 1.6:1. Therapeutic drugs (68%) were the most common cause of poisoning followed by a household product (13%), pesticides (9%), and abuse agents (5%), bites of snakes and scorpions (3%) and food poisoning (1%). Detailed information on groups of pharmaceuticals and the most frequent agents causing poisonings was presented. Analgesics (24%) and central nervous system agents (21%) were the most common therapeutic pharmaceutical poisons. Synthetic opioid; tramadol (45%) was the most common abuse agent. Accidental poisoning of abuse agents in children younger than 4 years represented 20.4 % of the abuse agents poisoning cases. The mortality rate for the patients was 0.3% (32 patients). Conclusion: The prevention of medicinal poisoning should merit high priority in the education interventions and preventive efforts. An important concern toward drugs and abuse agents' availability at homes within the reach of children should be raised. The most risk factors of poisoning are female gender and young age patients.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Published

2019-07-19

How to Cite

Rasheed, E. A. M. A., Mahdy, N. M. E., Gouda, A. S., & Badawy, S. M. (2019). A Study of Acute Poisoning Cases Admitted to the National Poisoning Center. Toxicology International, 25(2), 142–149. https://doi.org/10.18311/ti/2018/v25i2/23191

Issue

Section

Original Research
Received 2019-01-17
Accepted 2019-04-19
Published 2019-07-19

 

References

Rauber-Luthy C, Kupferschmidt H. Household chemicals: Management of intoxication and antidotes. Molecular, Clinical and Environmental Toxicology. 2010; 2: 339– 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8338-1_10.PMid:20358689

[Internet]. Available from: http://www.who.int/ipcs/ publications/training_poisons/analytical_toxicology/en/ 3. Prajapati T, Prajapati K, Tandon R, Merchant S. Acute chemical and pharmaceutical poisoning cases treated in Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad: One-year study. Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology. 2013; 2( 2):63–7.

International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization (WHO). Epidemiology of pesticide poisoning: Harmonized collection of data on human pesticide exposure in selected countries. Geneva: WHO Press; 2004.

McCaig LF, Burt CW. Poisoning-related visits to emergency departments in the United States, 1993-1996 Clinical Toxicology. 1999; 37:817. https://doi.org/10.1081/CLT100102460. PMid:10630264

Mowry JB, Spyker DA, Brooks DE, McMillan N, Schauben JL. Annual Report of the AmericanAssociation of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS): 32nd Annual Report.Clinical Toxicology (Phila). 2015; 53(10):962–1147.https://doi.org/10.3109/15563650.2015.1102927. PMid:26624241

Sinyor M, Howlett A, Cheung AH, Schaffer A. Substances used in completed suicide by overdose in Toronto: An observational study of coroner's data. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2012; 57:184. https://doi.

org/10.1177/070674371205700308. PMid:22398005

Susnjara IM, Smoljanović A, Gojanović MD. Drug related deaths in the Split-Dalmatia County 1997-2007. Collegium Antropologicum. 2011; 35:823.

Warner M, Chen LH, Makuc DM et al. Drug poisoning deaths in the United States, 1980-2008. NCHS data brief, no. 81. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2011.

[Internet]. Available from: http://www.who.int/topics/ foodborne_diseases/en/

Threlfall EJ, Ward LR, Frost JA, Willshaw GA. The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in food-borne bacteria.International Journal of Food Microbiology. 2000; 62(1– 2):1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1605(00)00351-2

Meyer S, Eddleston M, Bailey B, Desel H, Gottschling S, Gortner L. Unintentional household poisoning in children. Klinische Pädiatrie 2007; 219: 254–70. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2007-972567. PMid:17763291

Tifekci IB, Qurgunlu A, Sirin F. Characteristics of acute adult poisoning cases admitted to a university hospital in Istanbul. Human and Experimental Toxicology. 2004; 23:347–51. https://doi.org/10.1191/0960327104ht460oa.PMid:15311852

Viertel A, Weidmann E, Brodt HR. Cases of acute poisoning admitted to a medical intensive care unit. DeutscheMedizinische Wochenschrift. 2001; 126:1159–63. https:// doi.org/10.1055/s-2001-17890. PMid:11607854

Hanssens Y, Deleu D, Taqi A. Etiologic and demographic characteristics of poisoning: a prospective hospital-based study in Oman. Clinical Toxicology. 2001; 39:371–80.https://doi.org/10.1081/CLT-100105158. PMid:11527232

Islambulchilar M, Islambulchilar Z, Kargar-Maher MH. Acute adult poisoning cases admitted to a university hospital in Tabriz, Iran. Human and Experimental Toxicology. 2009; 28:185–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0960327108099679. PMid:19734268

Greene SL, Dargan PI, Jones AL. Acute poisoning: understanding 90% of cases in a nutshell. Postgraduate Medicine Journal. 2005; 81:204–16. https://doi.org/10.1136/ pgmj.2004.024794. PMid:15811881. PMCid:PMC1743253

Hawton K, Bergen H, Simkin S, Dodd S, Pocock P, Bernal W, Gunnell D, Kapur N. Long term effect of reduced pack sizes of paracetamol on poisoning deaths and liver transplant activity in England and Wales: interrupted time series analyses, BMJ 2013;346:f403. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f403. PMid:23393081. PMCid:PMC3567205

Acharya S, Lakshminarayana K, Sharanappa M. Assessment of poisoning cases in a tertiary care hospital. International Journal of Biomedical Research. 2014; 5(09): 478–581.https://doi.org/10.7439/ijbr.v5i9.773

Maharani B, Vijayakumari N. Profile of poisoning cases in a tertiary care Hospital, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. 2013; 3(1):091–094.https://doi.org/10.7324/JAPS.2013.30117

Zaheer MS, Aslam M, Gupta V, Sharma V, Khan SA. Profile of poisoning cases at a north Indian tertiary care hospital.Health and population: Perspectives and issues. 2009; 32(4):176–83.

Karki RK, Risal A. Study of poisoning cases in a tertiary care hospital. Kathmandu University Medical Journal. 2012; 10(40):70–3 https://doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v10i4.10999

Abd-Elhaleem ZA, Al Muqhem BA. Pattern of acute poisoning in Al Majmaah region, Saudi Arabia. American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine. 2014; 2(4):79–85.

Meyer S, Eddleston M, Bailey B, Desel H, Gottschling S, Gortner L. Unintentional Household Poisoning in Children. Klinische Pädiatrie 2007; 219: 254- 270. https:// doi.org/10.1055/s-2007-972567. PMid:17763291

Watson WA, Litovitz TL, Rodgers G J, Klein-Schwartz W, Reid N, Youniss J. 2004 Annual report of the american association of poison control centers toxic exposure surveillance system. American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2005; 23:589–666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2005.05.001. PMid:16140178

Maklad AI, Emara AM, ElMaddah EI, El-Refai MA.Pediatric poisoning in Egypt. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. 2012; 2(2):1–6.

Watson WA, Litovitz TL, Rodgers GJ, Schwartz WK, Reid N, Youniss J. 2002 Annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System. American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2003; 21(5):353–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0735-6757(03)00088-3

Fawzi M. Some medicolegal aspects concerning tramadol abuse: The new Middle East youth plague 2010. An Egyptian overview. Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences. 2011; 1:99–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejfs.2011.04.016

Hanssens Y, Deleu D, Taqi A. Etiologic and demographic characteristics of poisoning: A prospective hospital-based study in Oman. Clinical Toxicology. 2001; 39(4):371–80. https://doi.org/10.1081/CLT-100105158. PMid:11527232

Marahatta SB, Singh J, Shrestha R, Koju R. Poisoning cases attending emergency department in Dhulikhel Hospital- Kathmandu University Teaching Hospital.Kathmandu University Medical Journal. 2009; 7(26):152–6.https://doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v7i2.2711

Abd-Elhaleem ZA, Abd-Elkarim MA. Pattern of food poisoning in Egypt, a retrospective study. Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology. 2011; 6:505–15. https://doi.org/10.3923/jpt.2011.505.515

Violence against women in Egypt. The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights [Internet]. Available from: http:// www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/ngocontribute/ Egyptian%20Center%20for%20Women_s%20Rights.pdf

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.