ABSTRACT

Poisoning is one of the most common and mostly treatable problems in emergency departments. In this study we aimed to analyze demographic properties of poisoning cases who applied to our hospital.

Poisoning cases who applied to the Emergency Department from 1 April 2010 to 1 December 2011 were included. Parameters like sex, marital status, age, route of poisoning, duration of hospital stay, and final status of the patient have been recorded descriptively. Data is summarized with frequency, percentage and graphics. In addition, categorical data are analyzed by cross tables and chi-square test.

In this study period, 0.38% of the emergency department applications were poisoning cases. In the present study, 58.9% (n=106) of the patients were women and 41.1% (n=74) were men. The most common poisoning type was drug poisoning with 47% (n=85) and carbon monoxide poisoning with 22.2% (n=40). Suicidal poisoning was the first cause of the exposures. There were significant differences between the ages of suicidal poisoning causes (p<0.01). Additionally, when data was examined according to sex, it was seen that among these poisoning cases, poisoning caused by suicidal attempts was 64.2% (n=68) in women and 43.2% (n=32) in men. This difference was statistically significant (p<0.01).

Poisoning cases are mostly seen in the young age group and women, and is caused by suicidal attempts. In regard to route of administration, the oral route was most used and the most frequent factor was drugs.

Keywords: Poisoning, suicide, emergency service, epidemiology