To Evaluate the Pattern, Demographics and Etiologies of Acute Poisoning at A Tertiary Care Centre In Karachi Pakistan

  • Abdul Ghani Resident emergency Medicine Ziauddin University Hospital Karachi
  • Muhammad Azam Akhter Resident emergency medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital Karachi
  • Muhbat Ali Resident emergency medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital Karachi
  • Shua Nasir Registrar Emergency Medicine Ziauddin University Hospital
  • Lal Shehbaz Registrar Emergency Medicine Ziauddin University Hospital
  • Zain Ali Research Associate
Keywords: Poisoning, Overdose, Pesticides, Suicide attempt, self harm, emergency

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study is to evaluate the pattern, demographics and etiologies of acute poisoning at a tertiary care centre in Karachi Pakistan. Method: The type of study is a retrospective analysis of hospital record, from April 2013 to April 2016, for a period of 3 years, at a tertiary health care centre at Karachi Pakistan. The data was extracted from the hospital record and patient files, and various variables such as patients age, gender, type of agent used for poisoning, marital status at time of poisoning, date of poisoning, method utilized, time between intoxication and presentation to the emergency department, intentional or unintentional poisoning, clinical outcome and length of stay etc was noted for the patients. Various poisonous, drugs and toxic agents were classified. We also noted whether only a single drug was ingested or multiple drugs were ingested. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: The study population consisted of n= 796 patients, out of which n= 654 patients were included in the study as the rest of patients had incomplete data. The mean age of patients was 29 +/- 14 years, of the total study population n= 425 (65%) were females having a mean age of 30 +/- 14 years and n= 229 (35%) were males having a mean age of 34 +/- 16 years. The various types of toxicities were distributed as follows, pharmaceutical agents and drugs n= 255 (38.99%), pesticide ingestion n= 276 (42.20%), corrosives n= 26 (3.97%), food n= 52 (7.95%), alcohol n= 32 (4.89%), others n= 13 (1.98%). N= 238 (93.33%) patients took pharmaceutical agents for intentional intoxication and n= 17 (6.66%) did accidental overdose, while in the non pharmaceutical group n= 304 (76.19%) patients took intentionally the toxic agents and n= 95 (23.80%) took the agents unintentionally. Of those patients who took the agents for suicide attempt 82% were females as compared to 70% of males having a p value of less than 0.001. Also the majority of patients who attempted suicide were of young age, less than 28 years old having a p value of less than 0.001, while the majority of patients who in whom the intoxication was intentional were married in 60% of the cases. Conclusion: According to the results of our study, the most common agents of suicide used in our region and those who were reported at our setup were over dose of pharmaceutical agents and pesticide ingestion. Most attempts were to cause deliberate harm to self, and most common in the younger demographic especially in young girls, it is recommended that preventive measures and psychological counseling to be done of these patients.

Published
2017-03-02
How to Cite
Ghani, A., Akhter, M., Ali, M., Nasir, S., Shehbaz, L., & Ali, Z. (2017). To Evaluate the Pattern, Demographics and Etiologies of Acute Poisoning at A Tertiary Care Centre In Karachi Pakistan. Annals of Punjab Medical College (APMC), 11(2), 89-93. https://doi.org/10.29054/apmc/2017.211