OBJECTIVES: Comprehensively not much is recorded regarding the profile and outcomes of patients presenting with acute poisoning. Previous literature has reported only about the demographic factors and their association with the poisoning outcome but there exists a complex interaction among socio-demographic variables that needs to be evaluated to identify the most important predictors associated with poisoning. Hence the present study was conducted to determine the profile and outcomes of acute poisoning in patients admitted to the emergency wards of a tertiary care hospital Bangalore India.

METHODS: A prospective observational study was done on 133 acute poisonings patients presenting to the emergency wards over a duration of six months. Demographic details, hospital admission variables, and treatment outcomes were recorded in a pre-structured proforma. Two-step cluster analysis was applied to find the interaction between the socio-demographic and hospital admission variables in association with outcomes of poisoning(p<0.05) RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 27.76±15.5 years among them 51.1% were females. Married were 49.6% and 37.6% belonged to the upper lower class. The poisonings were intentional (69.17%) occurring through oral route (81.2%). Significant difference between cluster 1 (N=45) and cluster 2 (N=88), was found regarding gender (p=0.007), marital status(p<0.001), location of residence (p=0.001), reason of poisoning (p<0.001) and location of poisoning(p<0.001). Reason for poisoning was the most significant (1.00) predictor followed by route of poisoning and marital status. Age was the least significant among the predictors. Majority of the victims recovered (82.71%) whilst 4.51% died.

CONCLUSIONS: There exists a significant interaction between socio-demographic and hospital attendance variables which influence the outcomes of poisoning. There exists a necessity for the appropriate implementation of health behavior models, medical and peer management strategies to identify the individuals in need that can reduce the chances of next poisoning attempt.