Intensive care costs of acute poisoning cases.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the costs of acute poisoning patients admitted to an intensive care unit.


METHODS
Retrospective review of intensive care unit records of patients admitted for treatment of acute poisoning from January 1, 2002 to September 30, 2006.


RESULTS
The study group consisted of 94 patients and 18.1% of them died in the intensive care unit. The 62 suicidal cases were significantly younger than the accidental cases (p = 0.006). The average cost per intensive care unit stay was US $821 +/- 1149 (US $711 +/- 695 for suicidal and US $1,036 +/- 1,713 for accidental cases).


CONCLUSIONS
Poisoned patients admitted to an intensive care unit represent a considerable cost for the health care system in Turkey.
Trakya University Medical Faculty, Edirne, Turkey. necdetsut@yahoo.com
Necdet
N
Sut
Dilek
D
Memis
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013405:Suicide / Q000191:economics; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000191:economics; D014421:Turkey