Demographic Trends and Outcome of Acute Poisoning in a  Rural Tertiary Care Hospital of Nalgonda District, Telangana

Authors

Ratna Balaraju 1 , Chandrasekhar Vallepalli 2 , Srujana Reddy Sattari 3 , Komali Reddy Yenna3 , Kavya Sri Vijayagiri 3 , Navya Chowdary Sunkavalli 3 , M.M.V. Prasad Sharma4

Acute poisoning, Rural, Insecticide, Suicide, Pattern

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, globally more than three million of acute

poisoning cases with 2,20,000 deaths occur annually. Of these, 90% of fatal poisoning occurs in developing

countries particularly among agricultural workers. It has been reported that acute poisoning approximately

constitutes 10% of admission in medical emergency departments in India. Objectives: 1. To assess the

patterns of socio-demographic variables of patients admitted with acute poisoning in a rural tertiary care

hospital 2. To determine the various poison related factors in relation to the outcome of patients admitted with

acute poisoning in a rural tertiary care hospital of Nalgonda district. Methodology: This was a retrospective

record based study conducted using patient’s discharge summaries comprising of the patients admitted to the

emergency medicine department for acute poisoning from July 2019 to January 2020. Data was entered and

analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010. Results: During the study period, a total of 77 acute poisoning cases

were admitted, with 5 deaths, resulting in a mortality rate of 6.5%. Acute poisoning was most seen in males

(58.4%) and in the 14 to 30 years (62.3%) age group. Majority of the patients were admitted for ingestion

of poison (89.6%) and the most commonly consumed poison was insecticides (40.3%). Conclusion:

Insecticide poisoning is the most common form of poisoning with high mortality among males. There is a

need for appropriate training and counselling sessions of preventive strategies for individuals who are at risk

of acute poisoning especially the younger age groups.

Ratna Balaraju 1 , Chandrasekhar Vallepalli 2 , Srujana Reddy Sattari 3 , Komali Reddy Yenna3 , Kavya Sri Vijayagiri 3 , Navya Chowdary Sunkavalli 3 , M.M.V. Prasad Sharma4

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, Narketpally, Telangana, India, 2Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women (SPMCW), Tirupati, A.P, India, 3MBBS graduate, 4Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, Narketpally, Telangana, India