Main acute poisonings of adults in the emergency room of the Hospital General Docente Ambato-Ecuador between 2010-2018

Abstract

Introduction: Acute poisonings constitute a health problem worldwide, there are several toxic agents that can even lead to the death of patients or loss of functionality, so it is essential to know more about their casuistry and offer care quality timely medical.

Objective: To determine the demographic characteristics and the main causal toxic agents present in adult patients treated in the emergency room of the Ambato General Teaching Hospital, diagnosed with acute poisoning in the period 2010-2018.

Materials and methods: Observational, descriptive and longitudinal study with a population equal to the sample of 355 data from medical records of adult patients who were admitted to the emergency room of the General Teaching Hospital of Ambato (HGDA) during the period 2010-2018. Inclusion criteria: people over 18 years of age with acute poisoning. Data tabulation was performed using the statistical programs Microsoft Excel and International Business Machines Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 20.

Results: Voluntary non-alcoholic intoxication is the most common, followed by alcoholic and to a lesser extent caused by illegal drugs. In the present study it was observed that the most frequent poisonings were caused by cholinesterase inhibitors 37.75%, alcohol 20.56%, drugs 17.74%, caustics 12.98%, carbon monoxide 2.25%, hydrocarbons 1.97% and another 6.75%.

Conclusions: Cholinesterase inhibitor (organophosphate) poisoning was identified as the most common in patients admitted to the emergency room