Analysis of hospital admissions due to accidental non-fire-related carbon monoxide poisoning in England, between 2001 and 2010

Abstract

BackgroundAccidental non-fire-related (ANFR) carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a cause of fatalities and hospital admissions. This is the first study that describes the characteristics of ANFR CO hospital admissions in England.MethodsHospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient data for England between 2001 and 2010 were used. ANFR CO poisoning admissions were defined as any mention of ICD-10 code T58: toxic effect of CO and X47: accidental poisoning by gases or vapours, excluding ICD-10 codes potentially related to fires (X00-X09, T20-T32 and Y26).ResultsThere were 2463 ANFR CO admissions over the 10-year period (annual rate: 0.49/100 000); these comprised just under half (48.7%) of all non-fire-related (accidental and non-accidental) CO admissions. There was seasonal variability, with more admissions in colder winter months. Higher admission rates were observed in the north of England. Just over half (53%) of ANFR admissions were male, and the highest rates of ANFR admissions were in those aged >80 years.ConclusionThe burden of ANFR CO poisoning is preventable. The results of this study suggest an appreciable burden of CO and highlight differences that may aid targeting of public health interventions.

Fatal carbon monoxide poisoning: A lesson from a retrospective study at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

“…Patterns of the high number of cases of CO poisoning in the colder months of November to February and a less number of cases in the hotter months of June to August is seen in this study in concordance with other studies. [ 12 13 ] Deaths were among economically productive age group and more commonly accidental as in other studies worldwide,[ 2 11 14 15 16 17 ] but CO has long been recognized as a means of deliberate suicide too,[ 18 19 20 ] as in our study.…”

Risk Factors and Outcome Analysis in Children with Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

“…1 In the United States, about 50,000 ED visits annually are attributed to CO poisoning, resulting in about 1000e2000 deaths annually. 2 In England, 4000 ED visits and 40 deaths are noted annually. 3 In Taiwan, from 1997 to 2003, a significant increase from 1.6e3.5/10 6 person-years was found in the rate of unintentional deaths from CO poisoning induced by inappropriately ventilated gas heating appliances, fires, and automobile exhaust fumes 4 ; these causes were similar in Florida, and most (50e70%) of them occurred within the home.…”

Advancing Global Health through Environmental and Public Health Tracking

“…At the state and local levels, there have been efforts to use tracking program resources and/or data in establishing unique and diverse partnerships, developing innovative ways to use the data and resources, and identifying approaches to making the data more accessible, all to improve public health at the local, state and national levels [30]. Meanwhile, EPHT in England [32] includes several programmes of surveillance of environmental hazards, exposures and health outcomes [33], e.g., population exposure estimation of arsenic in private water supplies [34], the burden of disease of carbon monoxide poisoning, [35] lead exposure in children [36,37], developing methods of risk prioritisation to support environmental public health interventions [38 ] and guidance for investigating non-infectious disease clusters from potential environmental causes. [39 ] The English EPHT programme has adopted an approach providing common governance for disparate themes, with the flexibility to establish surveillance structures and functions appropriate to specific information needs.…”