Clinical and epidemiological profile of cases of poisoning brought to a tertiary care centre located in a rural border district of South Kerala
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/3z5zv653Keywords:
Poisoning, clinical profile, suicidal poisoning, organophosphates, toxicology, retrospective analysisAbstract
Background: Poisoning remains a critical public health issue in India, with varying epidemiological and clinical characteristics across different regions. Identifying demographic trends, types of poisons consumed and their clinical presentations are crucial for improving prevention and treatment strategies. This study aims to analyze the general characteristics, clinical manifestations, trends and patterns of poisoning cases in a hospital setting.
Methods: A retrospective study of 247 patients brought with a definite history of poisoning and treated for at least 48 hours, during the last 10 years was conducted. Data on patient demographics, type of poison consumed, manner of poisoning, clinical features, factors precipitating consumption of poisonous substances, duration of hospital stay, outcome and complications developed were collected from medical records. Descriptive statistical analysis was done to assess patterns and trends of poisoning.
Conclusion: The study revealed that poisoning incidents were predominantly reported among males and individuals aged 25-50 years, with a significant proportion being linked to suicidal intent. Drug related poisoning was the most common and alcoholism was a prevalent comorbidity. These findings underline the need for targeted interventions, improved mental health and community support and effective management of poisoning cases to reduce the burden of this malady in the population.
References
Eddleston M, Karalliedde L, Buckley N, Fernando R, Hutchinson G, Isbister G, Sheriff MHR. Pesticide poisoning in the developing world—a minimum pesticide list. Lancet. 2002;360(9340):1163-1167.
Gunnell D, Eddleston M. Suicide by intentional ingestion of pesticides: A continuing tragedy in developing countries. Int J Epidemiol. 2003;32(6):902-909.
Dutta AK, Seth A, Goyal PK, Aggarwal V, Mittal SK, Sharma R, et al. Poisoning in children: Indian scenario. Indian J Pediatr. 1998 May-Jun;65(3):365-70.
Gururaj G, Isaac MK, Subbakrishna DK, Ranjani R. Risk factors for completed suicides: A case–control study from Bangalore, India. Int J Injury Control Saf Promot. 2004;11(3):183-186.
Aggarwal P, Handa R, Wig N, Wali JP. Common poisonings in India. J Forensic Med Toxicol. 1999;16(1):69-75.
Samaria S, Pandit V, Akhade S, Biswal S, Kannauje PK. Clinical and epidemiological study of poisoning cases presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary care center in Central India. Cureus. 2024 Jan 16;16(1)
Kumar SV, Venkateswarlu B, Sasikala M, Kumar GV. A study on poisoning cases in a tertiary care hospital. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2010 Jul;1(1):35-9.
Singh S, Sharma BK. Patterns of poisoning in India and the role of pesticides. J Forensic Legal Med. 2015;22(1):34-40.
Roberts DM, Aaron CK. Management of acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning. BMJ. 2007;334(7594):629-634.
Hawton K, et al. Self-poisoning: Epidemiology, risk factors, and prevention. BMJ. 2013;346.
Kanchan T, Menezes RG. Suicidal poisoning in southern India: Gender differences and risk factors. J Forensic Legal Med. 2008;15(4):227-230.
Eddleston M, Phillips MR. Self-poisoning with pesticides. BMJ. 2004;328(7430):42-44.
Narayan Reddy KS, Murty OP. The Essentials of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology. Suguna Devi Publication; 2012. p. 464.
Jesslin J, Adepu R, Churi S. Assessment of prevalence and mortality incidences due to poisoning in a South Indian tertiary care teaching hospital. Indian J Pharm Sci. 2010;72(5):587-591.
Jailkhani MK, Naik JD, Thakur MS, Langare SD, Pandey V. Retrospective analysis of poisoning cases admitted in a tertiary care hospital. Int J Recent Trends Sci Technol. 2014;10(2):365-368.
Prayag A, Ashtagi GS, Mallapur MD. Pattern of poisoning cases at a tertiary health-care center, Belagavi. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2016;5(8):1698-1701.
Singh RR, Kumar A, Uraiya D, Dhaon P. Retrospective analysis of poisoning cases admitted in a tertiary care hospital in North Eastern UP, India. Int J Med Res Rev. 2016;4(7):1172.
Sethy B, Das S, Karmee N, Sethi A. A clinico-epidemiological study of cases of poisoning in a tertiary care centre of Southern Odisha. J Res Med Dent Sci. 2022;10(6):124-127
Mathew R, Jamshed N, Aggarwal P, Patel S, Pandey RM. Profile of acute poisoning cases and their outcome in a teaching hospital of north India. J Family Med Prim Care. 2019 Dec 10;8(12):3935-9
Zheng W, Han L, Fan Y, Yi M, Lu X, Yang J, Peng X, Yang Y. Association of mental health status between self-poisoning suicide patients and their family members: a matched-pair analysis. BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Apr 28;23(1):294.
Robb EL, Regina AC, Baker MB. Organophosphate toxicity. [Updated 2023 Nov 12]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470430/.
Breet E, Goldstone D, Bantjes J. Substance use and suicidal ideation and behaviour in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2018 Apr 24;18(1):549.
Volkow ND, Blanco C. Substance use disorders: a comprehensive update of classification, epidemiology, neurobiology, clinical aspects, treatment and prevention. World Psychiatry. 2023 Jun;22(2):203-29.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Saritha Ebeneezar, Vannya M.S
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en