This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Lee, H-L Articles by Guo, H-R Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lee, H-L Articles by Guo, H-R Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Etiology and outcome of patients presenting for poisoning to the emergency department in Taiwan: a prospective study

Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

H-J Lin

Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Emergency Medicine, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan

ST-Y Yeh

Department of Emergency Medicine, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan

C-H Chi

Department of Emergency Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

H-R Guo

Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan hrguo{at}mail.ncku.edu.tw

Poisoning is one of the most common reasons for visiting the emergency department in many countries, and the pattern varies from countries to countries and time to time. To compare the etiology and outcome of poisoning patients in different gender and age groups, we conducted a prospective study at the emergency departments of two medical centers in southern Taiwan between January 2001 and December 2002. All cases of poisoning, excluding patients diagnosed as cases of alcohol or food poisoning, were included, and relevant information was collected. There were 1512 cases of poisoning observed with a male to female ratio of 1:1.2 (684/828). Overall, drugs (49.9%) were the main agents involved, and a suicidal attempt (66.1%) was the predominant etiology. A total of 63 fatalities (4.2%) were observed and pesticides, especially paraquat, resulted in most fatalities. Patients aged 19–30 years constituted the most cases, and significant differences in exposure agents, causes, and fatality rates were found among different age and gender groups. The results are compatible with the trend reported by other Asian countries. This study also shows important differences existing in poisoning patients of different age and gender groups. Therefore, different poisoning-prevention strategies should be applied to different groups.

Key Words: epidemiology • pesticides • poisoning • suicidal attempt

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 27, No. 5, 373-379 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0960327108094609


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?