Assessment of Poisoning pattern, Severity and Clinical outcome using Clinical Scoring Systems in secondary care public hospital in South India

Abstract

The objective of the study is to assess the severity and clinical outcomes of poisoning cases using scoring systems. Glasgow Coma scale (GCS) and Poison Severity Score (PSS) are used to predict the severity and outcome of the cases. A prospective observational study was conducted over a period of 6 months in Govt. Headquarters Hospital in Udhagamandalam. Data was collected from 220 poisoned patients from various sources such as patient case record, patient care taker/ patient interview, lab reports and medication chart. Majority of the subjects belonged to the age group of 41-50. The male to female ratio was found to be 1.86:1. Poisoning was reported higher in illiterates (n=171) followed by those having completed high school (n=36). The most commonly implicated agent was herbicide poisoning (n=54) followed by pyrethroids (n= 51) and then organophosphorus (n=46). Pearson’s correlation coefficient indicated that there is significant correlation between GCS severity and outcome of treatment in poisoned patients (r=0.751, p<0.001), PSS severity and outcome of treatment (r=0.636, p<0.001) and between GCS and PSS (r=0.751, p= 0.01). This study could help in planning standard treatment guidelines according to the grade of severity thus obtained. Early management based on the severity of poisoning can help in providing optimized treatment.