Socio-Demographic Profile of Fatal Poisoning in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Coimbatore District-A Retrospective Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v15i1.13365Keywords:
: Socio-demographic profile; poison; autopsyAbstract
Background: Poisoning poses a major public health problem mainly in developing countries. Because of
the rapid industrialization and advancement in agricultural sector, fatality by poisoning also increases day
by day. The aim of this study is to determine the socio-demographic profile of fatal poisoning in Coimbatore
District. Methods: This retrospective study was carried out in Department of Forensic Medicine, Coimbatore
Medical College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu with data obtained from fatal poisoning cases brought for
postmortem examination from January 2016 to December 2016. Identification of specific poisons were done
with chemical examiner’s report. All collected data were analyzed in various possible aspects in the prepared
proforma. Results: During the study period the total number of medico legal autopsies conducted were 3675
out of which fatal cases due to poisoning were 600(16.33%) cases. The study showed that the incidence of
poisoning was more common among married men ie.303 cases (50.5%) out of 600 total number of poison
cases. The incidence was more common in the age group 31 – 40 years in males (86 cases) which formed
14.3 % and in females it is 21-30 years (65 cases) which formed 10.8%.When we observed the religion wise
distribution, Hindu males out numbered 369 out of 600 cases which formed 61.5%. Conclusion: Morbidity
and mortality due to poisoning can be minimized by health education, early referral, establishment of
toxicological units for detection of specific poisons and appropriate guidance for proper management of
poisoning cases at hospitals and primary health care centers.
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