Assessment of the Pattern of Acute Poisoning in Adults Admitted to Kasr Al-Aini National Environmental and Clinical Toxicology and Research Center in 6 Months

Abstract

Background: acute poisoning is exposure to a poison on one occasion or during a short period. The toxic effects can occur immediately or within hours of exposure. It is an essential medical emergency, which can be due to accidental or suicidal exposure causing significant mortality and morbidity. Aim of the work: to study the pattern of acute toxicity among adult patients admitted to nectr. Subjects and methods: it is a prospective cross-sectional analytical study that included 106 patients admitted due to acute poisoning. Patients of both sexes and 18 years or older were involved in assessing the pattern of toxicity. Results: the most common age group was 18 to 29 years (67%). Females represented most cases (63.2%) in comparison to males, and most of the cases were from urban regions (71.4%). Suicide was the most common manner of poisoning (77.5%), the oral route of poisoning represented the highest percentage of cases (88.5%), and most of them were admitted within 2 to 4 hours (44.3%). Pesticides were the commonest substances in studied cases (34%). Conclusion and recommendations: strict guidelines for the selling and using of pesticides should be enforced. Patients with suicide attempts should be referred to a psychiatry clinic.