Assessment of Prevalence, Management and Outcome of Acute Poisoning at St. Paul‘s Hospital Millennium Medical College and Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency and Trauma Hospital
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Assessment of Prevalence, Management and Outcome of Acute Poisoning at Saint Paul’s
Hospital Millennium Medical College and Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency and Trauma
Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethopia
Elias Melese
Addis Ababa University, 2018
Acute poisoning is an injury in which the toxic effects occur immediately, usually within hours
from time of exposure. It is a common reason for emergency department visit and
hospitalization. There is sparse data on acute poisonings in Ethiopia, although case fatality rate is
reported to range from 2.4% to 8.6%. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the
prevalence, management and outcome of acute poisoning among acutely poisoned patients
admitted to the emergency rooms of SPHMMC and AaBET hospital. The study was cross
sectional study conducted between August 2015 to August 2016, involving extraction of data
from patient charts and registries.
The one year prevalence of acute poisoning in the two hospitals was 2.5% per total emergency
visits and 6.2% per emergency admissions. The highest prevalence of poisoning cases was in the
age group of 15-29 years (51.9%) and majority (54.5%) of them were females. Most (88.5 %) of
the cases were intentional self-harm. Quarrel with family was the highest reason (25.8%) for
intentional poisoning. About 64% of the cases were from rural areas and March- May (Tseday)
was the most common months for acute poisioning (36.2%). Organophosphates (38.8%) were
the leading causes of poisoning followed by bleaching agents (12.7%) and rodenticides (11.1%).
Atropine was used as antidote for (25.8%) poisioined patient. Even though, most (68.9%) of the
acutely poisoned patients survived without disability, the case fatality rate was found to be
(8.4%). Out of the total deaths reported, organophosphate poisoning was the most common
followed by herbicides and rodenticides.
The prevalence and case fatality rate of acute poisoning in the two hospitals were found to be
high Hence, controlling open market sales of agrochemicals, creating awareness on proper
handling of chemicals and prescribed drugs, assesing the referal linkage of hospitals, improving
availability of antidotes, proper record keeping and documentation practices, are recommended.
Description
Keywords
Poisoning, Prevalence and Outcome of Acute Poisoning.