Department of Medicine, GRH, Madurai Medical College, Madurai, Tamilnadu 625020
Poisoning is a medical emergency, but the characteristics vary from place to place.
To find out the demographic factors, nature of poison consumed, and clinical and social aspects of poisoning.
A prospective cross-sectional study was attempted to screen 194 consecutive cases of poisoning admitted to the medical wards of our hospital over a period of 3 months after obtaining informed consent. The data were analyzed statistically.
There were 104 males (mean age-29.9yrs) and 90 females (24.8 yrs). All belonged to low socioeconomic status (manual workers predominantly). 7% were students. Place of consumption was home (67.5%), roadside (20%) and work area (12.3%). The poisons used were pesticides (48.45%), plant materials (26.28%), chemicals (12.88%), pharmacologic agents (10.31%) and unknown materials (2.06%). Only 56.2% were aware of other poisons. Previous attempts were noticed in 5 cases. Two-thirds consumed poison during day time. 126 consumed poison on empty stomach. Family history was elicited in 11, and positive history among neighbours or friends in 38. Reasons for selecting the poison were availability (60%), familiarity (43.8%), toxicity (24.7%), and others (5.2%). The reasons for consuming poisons included family problems (49.48%), poverty (14.95%), jilted love (9.28%), work problems (9.28%), physical illness (5.15%), failure in examinations (4.12%), mental illness (3.6%), accidental (3.09%), and as a suicide threat (1.03%).
