Acute intoxication in nonhospital emergency clinics

Fernández Egido C, García Herrero G, Romero García R, Marquina Santos AJ

Objective: To determine the prevalence of types of acute intoxication attended at

nonhospital emergency clinics of the SUMMA 112 network of the autonomous

community of Madrid in 2005.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study of all cases of acute intoxication, analyzing

age, sex, medical history, poisoning agent responsible, treatment, distribution

throughout the year, and patient destination on discharge.

Results: A total of 1382 cases of intoxication (54.1% in women, 45.9% in men) were

attended The mean (SD) age was 39.8 (16) years. The poisoning agent was most often

alcohol (27.03%), followed by benzodiazepines (17.17%) and cocaine (5.97%). The

records showed that 46.9% of the patients had a history of psychiatric illness and

21.16% had a history of alcoholism. Most treatments were symptomatic (34.96%). An

antidote was administered in 28.83% cases, gastric lavage was performed in 16.25%,

activated carbon doses applied in 11.96%, and oxygen administered in 8.28%.

Conclusions: The most frequently attended patient is a man with a history of chronic

alcoholism who suffers acute intoxication after excessive intake. Women who take

medication overdoses in suicide attempts account for a slightly smaller percentage. In these

cases, there is a history of mental illness and recurrent episodes. No noteworthy differences

in patient load were observed from month to month.

Fernández Egido C, García Herrero G, Marquina Santos AJ, Romero García R