Incidence and profile of acute intoxication among adult population in Najran, Saudi Arabia: A retrospective study

Abstract

Acute poisoning is considered one of the most important medical emergencies, resulting in severe morbidity and mortality, and is an economic burden on governments. This study aimed to determine the extent of acute adult intoxication among the population located in the Najran area, Saudi Arabia, over the last 3 years (from January 2017 to December 2019). The study is a hospital-based retrospective observational study. The data of all acutely intoxicated adult patients were collected from patients’ files of King Khalid Hospital, the main hospital in the Najran area. In this study, the total number of intoxicated patients was 852. Patients were divided into three groups according to their age: 15–25 years, 26–35 years and >35 years. Accidental intoxication was predominant (64.6%), especially with therapeutic drugs (60.2%), predominantly acetaminophen and amphetamine, which intoxicated 24.5% and 23.4% of the patients, respectively. Moreover, this study showed that 10.6% of patients were intoxicated with overdoses of alcohol, mostly among patients aged over 35 years. Furthermore, the present study revealed that 23.9% of patients were intoxicated with household chemicals, especially Clorox bleach or Flash. Patients presented with a wide range of symptoms; some were even asymptomatic. Overall, patients’ outcomes were good; mortalities were few (1.2%), and most fatalities were found in patients aged over 35 years (60%). The present study showed that pharmaceutical drugs constituted the most common causative agents in acute intoxication. Household chemicals, especially Clorox bleach, Flash and pesticides, are highly implicated in the acute toxicity problem. Drug abuse, especially amphetamine and alcohol, still represents a great threat facing people from the Najran region. It is crucial to deliver effective public health education programmes to increase community awareness about the predisposing risk factors of acute toxicity, whether as overdoses or suicide attempts.

Reported Cases of Alcohol Consumption and Poisoning for the Years 2015 to 2022 in Hail, Saudi Arabia

“…The findings of the study are consistent with another study that reported that approximately 10.6% of patients in Najran, Saudi Arabia were under the influence of heavy alcohol intake. However, unlike the present study’s results, in which one death was reported, the prior study demonstrated good patient outcomes [ 20 ]. A study conducted at Al-Amal Hospital in Jeddah noted that 16.1% of patients were consuming and abusing alcohol [ 21 ].…”

A Methodological Review of Drug-Related Toxicological Studies in Saudi Arabia

“…All 30 articles included in this systematic review were observational studies (seven cohort studies and 23 cross-sectional studies). Of the 30 studies, 26 (86.66%) obtained their data from an administrative database and/or patient interviewing [3,[14][15][16][17][18][21][22][23][24]26,[28][29][30][31][32][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], two studies (6.66%) from a survey [33,42], and two studies (6.66%) did not specify the data source [19,27]. Most of the studies reported the outcomes over a short period.…”

“…All articles were written in English and conducted in Saudi Arabia. Thirteen studies were from the Riyadh region [3,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], nine were from the Makkah region [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], three studies were from the Eastern region [35][36][37], three studies were from the Qassim region [38][39][40], one study was from the Najran region [41], and one study covered entire Saudi Arabia [42]. In relation to the range of years of publication, the oldest article was from 2012, and the latest was from 2021.…”

Drug Overdose Patterns Among Emergency Department Patients at an Academic Hospital in Jeddah

“…We believe that the prevalence of drug overdose has increased in the past years, based on our observation, and it will continue to rise among our population, according to multiple research studies regarding drug overdose in Saudi Arabia [ 4 , 6 , 7 ]. In addition, there is quite a lack of updated studies about drug overdose in Saudi Arabia in general and Jeddah City specifically.…”

“…In Saudi Arabia, drug overdose has been accountable for many intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and ED visits [ 6 ]. Recent research conducted in 2021 involving 852 intoxicated patients in Najran, Saudi Arabia, revealed that most of the overdose cases were accidental (64.6%) [ 7 ]. Another study in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia found that most cases were in the summertime; moreover, analgesic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were the most common drugs reported [ 4 ].…”