Evaluation of Clinical and Paraclinical Manifestations of Mushroom Poisoning: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Mushroom poisoning is a major health condition with a wide range of clinical and paraclinical features. This study aimed at evaluating the frequency of clinical and paraclinical manifestations of mushroom poisoning in patients referred to Shahid Rahimi Hospital in Khorramabad, Iran, over a one-year period (2018-2019). Methods: The data collected were associated with the clinical manifestations, age, sex, seasons, type of mushrooms, patients’ residence, latent phase, clinical and laboratory findings, length of hospital stay, interventions and the treatments. The underlying diseases were also recorded. After data collection, they were entered into SPSS software, version 18 and analyzed statistically. Results: 124 patients with a mean age of 36.65 years old were recruited into the study, 73 of whom were male and 51 female. The mean duration of the hospital stay was 2.19 days. The mean time elapsed between the consumption and the symptoms development was 4.42 hours. Similarly, the duration between the consumption and referral to the hospital was 4.72 hours. Most cases occurred in the spring (91.1%). The most common clinical signs in the poisoned subjects were nausea and vomiting (81.5%). The most therapeutic medications were Livergol (48.4%) and Atropin (33.1%), and most subjects had consumed mushrooms grown in the nature (79.8%). One person died because of the poisoning (0.8%). Conclusion: A large majority of the patients developed nausea and vomiting, whom were treated with drugs, but one patient died. People should be aware of, warned againt, and educated about the types of mushrooms before consumption.