Sociodemographic and Clinical Features in Patients Presented With Accidental and Deliberate Self-Poisoning: A Comparative Study from Lady Reading Hospital MTI, Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

To evaluate the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients presented with acute self-poisoning at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. A comparative study was conducted at Lady Reading Hospital MTI between May 2018 to May 2019 for a duration of 12 months. All patients diagnosed with acute self-poisoning were included in the study. Patients with inconclusive diagnosis, who were dead prior to the arrival to the hospital, or had an incomplete history of poison exposure were excluded from the study. At the time of arrival to the emergency department, the patient was first stabilized. Patients were grouped into two according to the type of exposure, i.e., accidental self-poisoning and deliberate self-poisoning (DSP). Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients were recorded in a preformed proforma. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The mortality rate in patients with accidental poisoning was 9.62%, whereas it was 26.28% in DSP patients. Data were stratified according to the mode of poisoning, i.e., accidental vs DSP, and variables were assessed in patients who did not survive. It was found that 60% of patients who died in the accidental group were aged 0-15 years. In contrast, only one patient between aged 0-15 years died in the DSP group and the majority of the deaths occurred in those aged 25.1-35 years (31 [75.6%]). In conclusion, women more often attempted suicide, whereas males suffered accidental poisoning more frequently. Firstly, we found a female predominance in the DSP group, whereas males were more prevalent in with young children experiencing accidental poisoning. Longer time from ingestion of poison to the arrival is associated with poor patient prognosis.