title: [Epidemiological study of acute poisoning cases treated at a Galician hospital between 2005 and 2008].
abstract: A descriptive retrospective study of acute intoxication cases registered at the Complexo Hospitalario de Pontevedra (CHOP) between January 2005 and December 2008 was performed to find out the number and types of poisoning cases treated, their distribution according to patient's sex and age, chronology, type of toxic agents involved, intentionality, history, symptoms, clinical development, treatment and toxicological analysis used for diagnosis. Data were recorded using Clinica and IANUS software and consulting all paper records of patients with symptoms of poisoning. Data from a total of 1893 patients with a mean age of 35.6 ± 17.6 years (66% men) were included. Highest rates of poisoning were recorded on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer months (June, July and August). Drugs of abuse were the most common toxic agents (70.4%), ethyl alcohol accounting for 61% of these cases, which often involved males and with people with high degrees of dependency. In second place was poisoning resulting from the abuse of medical drugs, more commonly associated with females, and involving benzodiazepines in 73.2% of cases. The majority of these intoxications were intentional, and suicide attempts accounted for 18.8%. The problems most commonly resulting from the poisoning were neurological, and mortality rate was just 0.2%.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital Povisa. charlidemiguel@hotmail.com
authors.forename: José Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: de Miguel-Bouzas
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Castro-Tubío
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bermejo-Barrera
authors.forename: Purificación
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fernández-Gómez
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Estévez-Núñez
authors.forename: María Jesús
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tabernero-Duque
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult