Narayan Mullasseril Sankarapillai1, Mohammed Naseem Yakoobali2, Sreenath Sreenivasan3
BACKGROUND
Due to the widespread use and availability of agricultural insecticides, acute
organophosphate poisoning is becoming the most common type of poisoning in
Kerala. The cause of death is thought to be a confluence of increased bronchial
secretion, bronchospasm, respiratory muscle dysfunction, respiratory center
depression and respiratory failure. The purpose of the study is to find the
proportion of respiratory failure in patients with organophosphate poisoning.
METHODS
It is a cross sectional study done in 119 consenting patients who are known cases
of organophosphorous (OP) poisoning satisfying the inclusion criteria. They
underwent clinical assessment and laboratory investigations to assess
complications of organophosphorous poisoning. Clinical features and lab findings
were recorded as per protocol.
RESULTS
65 out of 119 (54.6 %) had evidence of respiratory failure. Among these 65, 20
% succumbed to death (13). 56.5 % of males (48) and 50 % of females (17)
developed respiratory failure. 72.2 % of patients more than 60 years (13) had
respiratory failure. Majority of the cases were of chlorpyriphos poisoning 42 (35.3
%). 76.5 % (13) of dimethoate poisoning developed respiratory failure. 93.4 %
(57) of patients with respiratory failure had elevated serum amylase levels.
CONCLUSIONS
Respiratory failure is a very common complication found in organophosphate
poisoning. It is more common in males than females and its proportion increases
with age. The incidence of respiratory failure is more with dimethoate. Serum
amylase levels can be used as a marker for development of respiratory failure in
organophosphate poisoning.
