John Vinoj1, Prince Sreekumar Pius2, Indhuja3, Arthi4
BACKGROUND
Acute poisoning with various substances is a common medical emergency everywhere. WHO estimates poisoning as one of the common causes of increased mortality and morbidity. Acute ingestion of poisonous substance is associated with high mortality unless an effective intervention is done.
METHODS
In this study, in an attempt to understand the profile of poisoning cases admitted in Kanyakumari Government Medical College, we have enrolled all the poisoning cases admitted in the Intensive Medical Care Unit in the time period of January 2015 to December 2015. It is a retrospective study and the data was collected from the medical records department.
RESULTS
A total of 502 cases were admitted of which 79.48% were males and 20.52% were females. Among them, 93.40% were due to intentional poisoning and 6.60% were due to accidental poisoning. The observed mortality rate was 14.34%. The poisoning cases clustered in the age group of 20–39 years, accounting to 57.17% of the total cases. Intentional poisoning was observed more in males in the age group of 20–29 years (81.32%). Organophosphorus compounds (28.68%) followed by oleander seed (21.91%), followed by rat killer (Zinc phosphide) (17.53%), Aluminium phosphide (7.57%), Tablet poisoning (5.78%), Pyrethroid (1.6%), carbamate (1%) were the commonly used poison agents.
CONCLUSION
Pesticides are the most commonly used poisoning agents in rural India. Lack of knowledge and easy availability of such compounds make them a common source of poison. Incidence of poisoning is more among males compared to females because of increased occupational stress faced by them.
