The epidemiology of poisoning in emergency department in Turkey

Aim: Poisoning has a high potential mortality and morbidity. In order to prevent poisonings and reduce the risk of mortality and morbidity, it is necessary to determine the poisoning profile. Along with changes in medicine, technology and sociocultural life, the poisoning profile also changes over time. It is essential to keep up-to-date information on the subject in order to control poisoning. Material and Methods: Poisoning cases admitted to the emergency department between 2016 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients aged 18 years and older were included in the study Patients younger than 18 years of age and those with missing data were excluded from the study. Demographic, etiological and clinical features of poisonings were analyzed. Results: A total of 774 subjects with a mean age of 39.1 +/- 15.4 were included in the study. Of these subjects, 472 (61%) were male. The most common mechanism of poisoning was intentional exposures (n=418, 54%). It was known which substance 737 (95.2%) patients were exposed to, and a total of 1030 substances that caused poisoning were identified. Medications (n=579, 56.2%) were the first among the exposed substances, and antidepressants (n=152, %26.3) were the first among the medications. Poisoning with alcohol and its derivatives (n=282, 27.4%) was in the second place. The rate of hospitalization in the inpatient service was 50.8% (n=393), intensive care unit was 13.8% (n=107) and the mortality rate was 4.4% (n=34). The statistical significance between unintentional poisonings, the subjects who used antidote and the subjects who underwent hemodialysis and mortality was high (p values, respectively: p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.001). Discussion: This study is one of the that contain up-to-date information in large case series in the field of toxicology. Poisonings were most often caused by intentional exposure. Among the substances that cause poisoning, medications, alcohol and its derivatives are in the first two places. Hospitalization, ICU admission and mortality rates are high in poisonings, which creates a serious economic and social burden for the health system.