Assessment and evaluation of poisoning cases

Abstract

A substance is considered poisonous if it causes harm damage or death when ingested, inhaled, or comes in contact with the body. Poisoning is a significant global health issue and therefore it is crucial to understand the type, cause, severity, and, treatment pattern in order to take the appropriate measures because there is a massive epidemic of non-communicable diseases that can affect people of all ages. The main objective of the study was to assess and evaluate the poisoning cases. It was a retrospective and prospective study carried out for a period of 6 months from April 2023 to October 2023. The study involved 233 patients. Male preponderance (72.53%) was seen over the female (27.46%). The people between the age group of 21 to 30 years (33.47%) were more prone to poisoning cases. Most of the patients were married (62.66%). About 84.87% of people consumed poison deliberately due to various causes like financial crisis, family conflict, relationship failure, under the influence of alcohol, depression, and, other medical issues. 66.52% of people were from the rural background whereas 33.48% were from the urban background. Farmers (27.89%) were the major group of the population affected by the poisoning cases followed by the homemakers (17.16%). Antiemetics (90.99%) was the most common class of drug used, vomiting (65.24%) was the most common presenting complaint, and organophosphorus (34.76%) was the most common type of poisoning. The study concluded that in this study the most common type of poisoning is organophosphorus poisoning followed by pharmaceutical agents. Most of the poisoning cases were deliberate due to various reasons like family conflicts, relationship failure, personal issues, financial crises, medical issues, and under the influence of alcohol. Implementing proper and strict regulation on marketing agricultural products and restricting their availability in the market. Managing the causes and educating the people regarding the importance of life, promoting small-scale business, supporting the poor, carrying out counseling sessions for pre-teens and teens, restricting the intake of alcohol, providing proper psychiatric care, keeping all hazardous substances in a safe and difficult to reach places can prevent the poisoning cases.