Trends of acute poisoning in south Karnataka.

BACKGROUND In recent times poisoning with agricultural chemicals either accidental or suicidal has become common due to easy availability and low cost. So it has become essential to find out the burden of poisoning to the victims, family and to hospital and morbidity and mortality among the victims. AIMS To determine the trends of poisoning along with various parameters such as mode of poisoning, type of poison used, outcome of the poisoning, the most vulnerable age group, occupation of the victim, and the marital status. METHOD A 5 year retrospective study in which all the patients of acute poisoning admitted to Govt. Wenlock Hospital, Mangalore during the period from 1st Jan 1999 to 31st December 2003 were included. A total of 546 cases were admitted due to acute poisoning during the study period. RESULTS Three hundred and eighty (69.6%) males and one hundred and sixty six (30.4%) females were admitted to the hospital due to poisoning. Organophosphates were the most commonly used suicidal poison irrespective of age, sex and occupation of the victim. There were two hundred and thirty five cases of male suicidal poisoning and one hundred and twenty six female cases of suicidal poisoning. Majority of poisoning cases were seen in manual labourers. The increasing trend of poisoning was observed for the period of 1999 to 2003 except for the year of 2003. CONCLUSION The study highlights about the problem of poisoning in the region. Since the majority of the victims of the poisoning are from low socio economic status. There is economic burden on the family members of the victim of poisoning as the earning member of the family becomes ill (for treatment), dies (loss of earning member) and also emotional setback and disturbance.