Pattern of suicidal poisoning in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

ntroduction: Poisoning is a global public health problem accounting for a significant proportion of emergency admission. It yields remarkable death toll in Bangladesh. Better outcome depends on type of poisons, early diagnosis and proper treatment. This study aims to identify the pattern, management, and outcome of suicidal poisoning in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 324 consecutive patients with poisoning aged 12 years and older in the Department of Medicine, Sheikh Sayera Khatun Medical College Hospital, Gopalganj, from January 2019 to June 2019. Result: We enrolled 324 patients with acute poisoning during our study period. The age of the patients varied from 13 to 75 years (mean 24.49, SD of 10.74) with 15 to 24 years age group accounted for 50.9% (n=165) of the cases. Females predominated (51.9%) over males. Most of the incidents (78%) was suicidal. Organophosphate pesticides (48.8%) and herbicides (21.42) were the two top ranked causative agents for suicidal intention, while sedatives and smokeless tobacco (gul) accounted for 61.9% and 19% of parasuicidal attempts respectively. We found statistically significant association between poisoning outcome and gastric lavage (P=0.013). Conclusion: Poisoning is common in our society. Suicidal poisoning is more common and it is more prevalent among females. Insecticides and herbicides are commonly implicated in suicidal poisoning