Epidemiology of acute drug poisoning in a tertiary center from Iasi County, Romania

Abstract

<jats:p> The aim of this retrospective epidemiological study was to investigate the demographical, etiological and clinical characteristics of acute drug poisonings in Iasi County, Romania. All patients were referred and admitted in the Toxicology Clinic of “Sf. Ioan” Emergency Clinic Hospital Iasi, Romania. Between 2003 and 2009, 811 cases of acute drug poisonings were recorded, counting for 28.43% from the total number of poisonings. The majority of these poisonings resulted in mild (51.94%) and medium (28.35%) clinical forms, while 19.71% were coma situations. In all, 63.51% of patients originated from urban areas, 39.94% were unemployed and the patients were predominantly women (66.46%). A high percentage (97.27%) were suicide attempts, using only one type of drug (65.88%) and the 21–30 years group (29.8%) records the highest incidence, for both women and men. The most frequently involved drugs were benzodiazepines 13.69%, anticonvulsive drugs 8.63%, barbiturates 8.51% and cardiovascular drugs 5.92%. Drugs combinations were recorded in 32.92% of cases and 1.2% were combinations between drugs and other substances. Mortality was the outcome in 0.3% of the total registered number of acute drug poisonings. This study underlines that in order to provide a proper management of these situations, a Regional Poison Information Center is absolutely necessary. </jats:p>

The Evaluation of Patients Admitted to the Emergency Department with Non-Benzodiazepine Antiepileptic Drug Poisoning

“…Most studies have shown that female exposure to poisoning was much higher than that of males in the sex distribution of the adult age group (3,6,(9)(10)(11). Similar to the literature, the admissions of females were greater than males in our study (F/M=41/23).…”

“…In similar studies it is seen that intentional drug ingestions are higher even if the rates show differences (3,10,11,15). However in our study, this rate is a little higher than it is in other studies.…”

Poisoning deaths in Poland: Types and frequencies reported in Łódź, Kraków, Sosnowiec, Gdańsk, Wrocław and Poznań during 2009–2013

“…This is consistent with other studies on poisoning in different age groups [19,20]. The most commonly used drugs were benzodiazepines, responsible for the largest proportion of deaths, which is also confirmed by other studies [7,[21][22][23][24]. In our opinion, the large recorded number of cases of benzodiazepine poisoning may reflect their extensive sales and overall use [25,26].…”

Development and validation of a risk-prediction nomogram for in-hospital mortality in adults poisoned with drugs and nonpharmaceutical agents

“…In Romania, epidemiological data suggest that acute drug poisoning in suicide attempts is the most common reason for hospitalization of patients with poisoning (97.27%) and poisoning more frequently occurs due to a combination of drugs (32.92%), with a mortality rate of 0.3%. [26] Self-poisoning with organophosphate pesticides in our area showed a mortality rate of 3.8%. [27] Most of the patients in our study with acute poisoning had attempted suicide, using drugs or a combination of poisons, comparable with the distribution reported in studies from the United States, or Central Europe.…”