Epidemiology and characteristics of acute poisoning treated at an emergency center.

BACKGROUND Acute poisoning is frequently encountered at emergency department. This study was to investigate the epidemiology and characteristics of patients with acute poisoning who were treated at the Emergency Center, Fujian Provincial Hospital, China. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the gender, age, causes of poisoning, types of poisons, poisoning route, emergency diagnoses, outcomes, and prognoses of these patients. RESULTS Altogether 2867 patients with acute poisoning were treated from January 2004 to December 2009. The ratio of male to female was 1:1.04, and their average age was 33.8 years. Of the 2867 patients, 76.39% were between 18 and 40 years old. The incidence of acute poisoning was as high as 11.33% in January each year. The incidence of poisoning was in a descending order: alcohol poisoning (54.55%), medication poisoning (25.95%), pesticide poisoning (5.65%), and drug poisoning (4.88%). Most (56.44%) of the patients with drug poisoning were under 25 years and their mean age was significantly lower than that of patients with medication poisoning or alcohol poisoning (P < 0.01). Approximately 69.54% of the patients were followed up after emergency treatment, 30.39% were hospitalized, and four patients died. CONCLUSIONS Acute poisoning is largely alcohol poisoning and medication poisoning in a city. The emergency green channel "pre-hospital emergency care-emergency department-hospital treatment" can significantly improve the survival rate of patients with acute poisoning.