Abstract
Acute poisoning is a major public health threat worldwide, including Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia with over 67 million inhabitants. The incidence and characteristics of poisoning in Thailand vary greatly depending on the reporting body. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive description of the state of poisoning in Thailand. It identifies common trends and differences in poisoning by reporting centers and regional studies. Almost half of the cases and three-fourths of the deaths involved pesticide poisonings associated with agricultural occupations. However, increasing urbanization has led to an increase in drug and household chemical poisoning. Though the majority of reported poisonings remain intentional, a trend towards unintentional poisonings in pediatric and geriatric populations should not be dismissed. Unique poisonings such as mushroom, botulism, and tetrodotoxin poisonings are also closely related to the Thai lifestyle. Following this extensive review of the Thai poisoning literature, it is apparent that further support of the poison control center in Thailand is needed to improve poisoning surveillance, research, prevention, and intervention.
Highlights
Poisoning is a significant worldwide public health problem
The systematic review identified 18 related papers or reports, half of which were published in Thai. Eight of these studies were primarily utilized because they provided a comprehensive description of poisoning, including theincidence and characteristics of acute poisoning patients, both intentionally and unintentionally (Table 1)
Two distinct organizations engage in monitoring and reporting poisoning exposures in Thailand: the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and university hospital-based poison control centers (Figure 1)
Summary
Poisoning is a significant worldwide public health problem. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is the ninth leading cause of death in young adults (15–29 years old). For countries in Asia, that is, Taiwan, India, and Sri Lanka, the majority of the reported poisoning cases are intentional, often involving pesticides. Contrary to the poison control centers in developed countries, more than 90 percent of the cases reported to the poison control center databases in Asia are selectively reported by physicians rather than by the lay public [3]. Two distinct organizations engage in monitoring and reporting poisoning exposures in Thailand: the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and university hospital-based poison control centers (Figure 1). Both the Bureau of Policy and Strategy (BPS) and the Bureau of Epidemiology (BOE), parts of MOPH, collect poisoning data.
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