The Scenario of Acute Poisoning in Jashore, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Background: Acute poisoning is a common scenario in the emergency department of any general hospital globally, but its pattern may vary in different parts of the world and even may be a different regional variation in the same country.

Objective: Our recent study aims to assess the demographic characteristics, psychological aspect, pattern, and treatment outcome in different acute poisoning.

Method: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the medicine department of Jashore Medical College and Hospital from 1^st January to 30^th June 2018, which recruited 487 eligible cases of admitted acute poisoning patients.

Results: The study reveals that the total incidence of acute poisoning in Jashore, Bangladesh, is 17.1 per 100,000 populations over a 6-month period. The mean age of our study population was 27 ± 11 (SD) years with having significant female preponderance in acute poisoning (female: 253/52% and male: 234/48%; p = 0.002). Female subjects were significantly younger than male (p <0.001). Moreover, the total suicidal intension of acute poisoning in our study was 97.3%, whereas the female subjects were more committed to suicidal attempts (p = 0.027). Organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) were the significant leading agents (66.1%, p = 0.029) of acute poisoning, and even, it had been significantly used as suicidal intention of poisoning substance (65.1%, p <0.001) in our observation. Muslim (97.5%, p = 0.005), 10-29 year age group (68.0%, p = 0.002), rural (99.2%), unmarried (51.3%), middle class (50.1%), students (48.9%), and secondary educational background population (76.4%) were more victimized of acute poisoning. Among different factors, familial disharmony constituted of 56.1% cases of suicidal attempt in acute poisoning. Finally, we had observed that the death incidence by acute poisoning in Jashore, Bangladesh, was 1.9 per 100,000 population over a 6-month period.

Conclusion: The recent study reveals that there is high incidence of acute poisoning in Jashore, Bangladesh, with a significant amount of death toll. Organophosphorus compound is the most common agent of deliberating self-poisoning in our study due to its easy availability in our agriculture-based community.