Pattern of Acute Adult Poisoning at a Tertiary Care Hospital in the Western Province Sri Lanka: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: Epidemiology of acute poisoning has been extensively studied in agricultural areas of Sri Lanka. It has not been well documented in the other parts of the country. The objective of this study was to describe the pattern of acute poisoning in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in urban Sri Lanka to describe the difference of poisoning patterns in different areas of a country. Methods: This study was performed as a retrospective study in Colombo South Teaching Hospital (CSTH), Sri Lanka. The bed head tickets (BHTs) of the patients admitted to the medical units of CSTH from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2009 were retrieved. Patients admitted to pediatric units and with snake bites and food poisoning were excluded. Results: From 1st of January 2009 to 31st of December 2009, 92668 patients were admitted to CSTH and 1.27% (1178) was admitted following acutehttps://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/current-trends-of-poisoning-an-experience-at-a-tertiary-care-hospitalhadoti-region-rajasthan-india-2161-0495-1000298.php?aid=74588www.omicsonline.org/open-access/current-trends-of-poisoning-an-experience-at-a-tertiary-care-hospitalhadoti-region-rajasthan-india-2161-0495-1000298.php. Of those patients we were able to collect data on 70.46% (828). Male to female ratio was 37:63. The commonest cause of poisoning was due to medicinal drug overdose 63.52% (526) of which paracetamol overdose accounted for 37.6% (311). Organoposphate (OP) accounted for 11.11% (92) of the admissions. Mean duration of hospital stay was 3.49 (SD4.97) days. Discussion: The pattern of poisoning observed in CSTH is significantly different to the pattern seen in agricultural areas of the country.