Acute Toxicity of Abused Drugs in Minia Poison Control Center

Abstract

Background: Drug abuse is one of the most serious threats in several countries; acute toxicity of these drugs was more common in all poison control centers. Objectives: This study aimed to recognize the incidence of acute toxicity of abused drugs Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 375 patients presented to Poison Control Center (PCC) of Minia university hospital from 1 st of January 2017 to 31 st of December 2019, data collected regarding socio demographic information, types of toxins, mode of toxicity, clinical manifestations, investigations, and outcome. Results: Patients of this study aged 6 months-58 years old, hospital stay duration ranged between 1 to 8 days. Combined drugs were the most common type 19.2 %, most patients were males 99.2 %, lived in urban areas 70.1 %, unemployed 91.5 %, single marital status 54.7 %. 41.9 % of patients had intermediate qualification; accidental overdose toxicity is the most common mode of poisoning 69.9 %. Regarding clinical manifestation, most patients had stable vital signs and normal arterial blood gases (ABG), and coma was the commonest manifestation. 91.7 % of patients survived while 8.3 % died. Conclusion: combined drugs addiction is most common between addicts nowadays; also synthetic cannabinoid addiction had increased.