epidemiology of poisoning in northeast of iran (2004-2013)

background : poisoning is a major concern, especially in developing countries. we aimed to focus on poisoning trends based on registry data for the recent 10 years. methods: this cross-sectional study was performed on registry database of imam reza hospital in mashhad, iran. all cases of toxic exposure or poisoning during 2004 to 2013 were included (49189 patients). data from two national censuses were used for calculating rates. spss 11.5 was used for data analysis. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. results: there were 49189 admissions during the 10-year period with a mean age of 26.21±14.97 years out of which 50.3% were female. the prevalence rate had increased three times in women and four times in men. pharmaceutical toxins (63.5%) had the highest proportional mortality ratio, which mostly occurred in winters. the mean age of admission began to decline again in recent years. conclusion: analyzing data on secular trends can always enlighten the healthcare decision makers for real health problems. designing the proper population-based interventions can be one of the many uses of these findings.