Study of poisoning trends in South India: A perspective in relation to Indian statistics

Poisoning is a major social and economic problem, and public health concern all over the world. Periodic epidemiological studies are essential to recognize the trends of poisoning in each region. This study was conducted to determine the patterns in deaths due to poisoning on cases subjected to postmortem examination in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Telangana, South India. Data including the age and gender distribution, nature of poison and manner of death were considered. Out of 866 post mortem examination done in year 2014, 136 (15.7%) were poisoning. Organophosphorous compound was the most common agent of poisoning (31.62%). The incidence of poisoning was more predominant in males and in 21–30 years age group (43.38%). Suicidal cases were found to be more common than accidental cases.