Socio-demographic characteristics of poisoning cases admitted in a tertiary care level hospital of Amravati district of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Poisoning is an important health hazard and one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide The incidence of poisoning cases is increasing steadily with each passing year. Burden of poisoning is high but less authentic data is available on it as hospital records, population surveys and data registered by governmental authorities. With this background, present study is conducted to determine various socio –demographic factors responsible for poisoning in patients.It was an observational study, carried out in District Civil Hospital. All patients admitted with history of poisoning or suspected poisoning in District Civil Hospital who attended in casualty, ICU and ward during study period were included in study. Written informed consent was taken from the cases or relatives. Information was collected from his/her accompanying family members if condition of the case was found to be unfavorable to respond to questions. Majority of the cases were in the age group of 15-44 years (81.52%), Majority of poisoning cases 60.23% were married. The commonest poison to which cases were exposed was an organophosphorus compound which was seen in 61.36%) cases. The most common cause for consuming poison was found to be domestic 324 (45.70%). Presentstudy showed that poisoning was commonly seen in the working age group. Males consumed/exposed to poison more as compared to females. Married males were affected more. Most commonly consumed/exposed poison was organophosphorus compounds.