Acute Chemical and Pharmaceutical Poisoning Cases Treated in Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad: One year study

Background: To study the pattern of acute chemical and pharmaceutical poisoning in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India. Methods: This was a prospective study of patients with chemical and pharmaceutical poisoning who were admitted to the emergency department of Civil Hospital Ahmadabad, from 1st October 2006 to 30th September 2007. Socio-demographic details, intention of poisoning, type of poison, duration of hospitalization and outcome were recorded in a data checklist. Results: In total, 366 cases were studied over one year. Of these, 70.8% were male. The majority (45.08%) of cases had 21 to 30 years of age. 71.6% of cases lived in rural area and 28.4% of cases lived in urban area. The most common type of poison was pesticides in 33.9% of cases, followed by household chemicals in 26.8% of cases. In 74.6% of cases, intention of poisoning was self-harm. Case fatality rate among the patients was 18.6% while this index in patients poisoned with household chemicals was the highest (19.9%) followed by pesticides (17.7%). Conclusion: The prevention and treatment of poisoning with pesticides and household chemicals should merit high priority in the health care of Gujarat population. A specific concern should be raised toward pesticides availability and terms of sale. A national concern should be raised toward providing more laboratory and diagnostic facilities in hospitals in India.