Bijush Difoesa1, Dibya Jyoti Sharma2, Hari S.3, Dipankar Deb4
BACKGROUND
Organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are one of the most common cause of
morbidity and mortality due to poisoning worldwide especially in agrarian countries
like India. Hence it is prudent to undertake a detailed study of clinico-pathological
evaluation of OP poisoning and assess the role of serum potassium as an
alternative, easy and convenient prognostic indicator in estimating the severity of
OP poisoning. This study was undertaken to assess serum potassium levels in
patients of acute organophosphorus poisoning and determine association between
serum potassium level and outcome in cases of acute organophosphorus
poisoning.
METHODS
This was a prospective observational study conducted in Department of General
Medicine, Silchar Medical College & Hospital for one year from 1st June 2019 to
31st May 2020 with a sample size of 100 after satisfying the inclusion and exclusion
criteria. Peradeniya organophosphorus poisoning (POP) scale was used for
categorizing study population according to severity.
RESULTS
Among patients who were admitted with organophosphorus poisoning, 72 % of
the patients discharged were having normal serum potassium levels on admission,
whereas 22 % (n = 22) patients who died had hypokalaemia at the time of
admission. The chi-square value for the association between serum potassium and
outcome is statistically significant [P value is 0.001 (P < 0.05)].
CONCLUSIONS
The serum potassium level on the day of admission was significantly correlated
with the severity of the acute organophosphate poisoning as determined by
Peradeniya OP poisoning scale. The cases that had lower serum potassium levels
on admission had poor outcome. Reduced serum potassium levels also had
significant association with the need for ventilator support. Therefore, serum
potassium can be used as a predictive marker of severity in organophosphorus
poisoning. This can help in early triage of patients and will be helpful in reducing
mortality and morbidity.
