Internal Medicine
Online ISSN : 1349-7235
Print ISSN : 0918-2918
ISSN-L : 0918-2918
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Acute Organophosphate Poisoning in University Hospital Emergency Room Patients
Yusuf YurumezPolat DurukanYucel YavuzIbrahim IkizceliLevent AvsarogullariSeda OzkanOkhan AkdurCaglar Ozdemir
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2007 Volume 46 Issue 13 Pages 965-969

Details
Abstract

Objects In the present study, we evaluated patients who were admitted to our emergency department with a diagnosis of organophosphate poisoning and discussed clinical, social and demographic features.
Methods A retrospective study was conducted with organophosphate poisoning patients admitted to our emergency department between January 1995 and December 2004. Data regarding the age, sex, occupation, type of agent, route of poisoning, clinical effects of cholinergic overactivity, laboratory findings, and mortality rate were obtained from the patient files.
Results During the study period, 220 patients who had organophosphate poisoning with a known agent were admitted to the ED. The estimated mean admission time to the ED after the exposure was 3.9 ± 3.1 (1-14) hours. There were 131 (59.5%) female and 89 (40.5%) male patients. The most affected age group was 15-24 years (40.5%), in both sexes. Oral ingestion (86.5%) was found to be the most common route of poisoning. The most frequent reason for poisoning was attempted suicide (75.9%). The most common organophosphate compounds exposed were dichlorvos, diazinon and parathion-methyl. The most frequent clinical signs were miosis, respiratory system findings, tachycardia, loss of consciousness, and hypertension. Twenty patients (9.1%) died due to sudden respiratory and cardiac arrest (45%), respiratory failure (25%), CNS depression (5%) and septic shock (25%).
Conclusion We think that the appropriate use of these compounds, instruction of the public about their harmful effects and restriction of their uncontrolled sales by legal regulations can reduce the incidence of organophosphate poisoning.

Content from these authors
© 2007 by The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top