Epidemiological profile of exogenous intoxications occurred in the State of Rio Grande do Sul between the years 2007 and 2020

Abstract

Introduction: Exogenous intoxication occurs when humans eat, inhale or are exposed to chemicals that can harm their health. Objective: To characterize the epidemiological profile of cases of exogenous intoxications reported to the epidemiological surveillance of the State of Rio Grande do Sul between 2007 and 2020. Method: For this, data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sinan-Net) were used. The information collected was evaluated in terms of socioeconomic characteristics and aspects related to the intoxication event itself. Results: The confirmed cases were 34,953 during the period evaluated. The most affected people were: female, people with incomplete primary education, people aged between 20 and 39 years who lived in cities. About the intoxications themselves, the most prevalent toxic agents were medicines and the category of circumstance of intoxication with the highest incidence was the suicide attempt. Most cases were clinically confirmed and were not related to work exposure, and 73.30% of cases were cured without sequelae. However, there was a high number of information described as ignored for several categories. Information like schooling is usually not filled because it is not relevant to diagnosis. Conclusions: Therefore, it is necessary to improve the quality of information, so that it is possible to identify the most affected categories and develop adequate prevention measures.