Prevalent Poisonings in Adolescents and Adults in Dubai: A Compendium from Rashid Hospital

Background: Profile of acute poisonings varies from country to country depending on the ease of availability of substances and socio-economic condition of people; however, very little information from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been published, so far. This study was designed to find out the most common causes of overdose and poisoning in patients admitted to the emergency department of Rashid Hospital (RH), Dubai, UAE. Methods: In this retrospective cross sectional study, medical records of poisoned patients admitted to RH from 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2012 were reviewed. Demographic data, types of substances used, intention, length of hospital stay and outcomes were recorded in pre-designed checklists. Results: Overall, 163 patients were studied that among them gender distribution was relatively equal (male: female = 1.04: 1). Mean age of patients was 30.3 ± 11.5 and most patients were in the age group of 20 to 29 years age old (41.7%). Rgarding the type of poisons, the majority of patients were poisoned with pharmaceuticals (55.8%) followed by chemical substances (23.3%). In pharmaceutical poisonings, most cases were due to multi-drug ingestion (22.6%), followed by ingestion of paracetamol (14.1%) and benzodiazepines (4.3%). Considering the gender distribution, women were significantly more involved with pharmaceutical poisoning (P = 0.046), while venomous envenomation occurred only in men indicating a significant difference (P = 0.004). In chemical poisoning, most cases were due to ingestion of corrosive agents (19%). Suicidal poisoning was significantly more common in women (P < 0.001), while abuse was significantly more common in men (P < 0.001). Length of hospital stay averaged on 8.1 days. Only 3 patients died during the admission (mortality rate: 1.8%). Conclusion: Study on, training for and prevention of poisoning should receive more attention in the UAE. Over-the-counter drugs especially paracetamol should be prescribed in a more controlled manner.