Carbon monoxide poisoning in Northeast of Iran.
BACKGROUND
CO poisoning is still a public health concern especially in developing countries. We aimed to focus on CO poisoning secular trends based on registry data for the recent 7 years in Northeast of Iran.


METHODS
Registry database of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran was analyzed. All admitted cases with CO exposure during 2004-2011 were included. Data from two national censuses were used for calculating rates. Data analyses was performed by SPSS 11.5. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.


RESULTS
There were 443 CO related admissions (0.9% of all poisonings which equals to a prevalence rate of 1.9 per 100,000) during the 7-year period. Mean age was 32.3 ± 18.2 years and 60% of subjects were male. CO prevalence rate was not changed during this period. Case fatality rate was higher in men (5.4% vs. 4.4%). Self-employment and manual or office workers were at greatest risk. Age specific prevalence and mortality rates were highest in >60 age group. (2.9 and 3.1 per 100,000, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
As it seems that current health prevention studies are not effectively working, these secular trends can enlighten health policy makers to implement proper population based interventions like education or regulations for CO detectors. We believe that almost all cases of accidental CO poisoning can be prevented.
Resident of Community Medicine and Public Health, Student Research Committee, Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
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M
Khadem-Rezaiyan
Addiction Research Centre, Imam Reza (p) Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; BC Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, Canada. Electronic address: AfshariR@mums.ac.ir.
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R
Afshari
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002249:Carbon Monoxide Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult
CO poisoning; Epidemiologic; Iran; Khorasan Razavi province