Acute Poisoning among Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Acute poisoning is a major global public health problem contributing to one of theleading causes for a visit to an emergency department. This study aims to analyse the demographicand psychosocial characteristics of patients with acute poisoning presented to the emergencydepartment. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care hospital fromJune to December 2019 after obtaining ethical approval from Institutional review board (referencenumber. 041-075/0760). A convenient sampling method was applied. Epidemiological factors, typesof poison consumed, reason, motive, and place to take poison, time elapse in the presentation to thehospital were studied. Statistical analysis was done using statistical package for the social sciencesversion 20. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency andproportion for binary data. Results: Out of 76 cases of acute poisoning, the organophosphorus poisoning was 18 (23.7%) followedby unknown 12 (15.8). Of total, 28 (36.8%) had quarrel before taking poison and 41 (53.9 %) hadintention to commit suicide. Sixty-seven (88.2%) took a poison at home. The average elapsed time tothe visit of the emergency department was 110±80 minutes.   Conclusions: The most common poisoning was organophosphorus with a suicide being the mostcommon intention. Quarrel was the most frequent reason to take poison and the home was the mostcommon place to take poison.