Poisoning cases in Catalonia: characteristics according to age groups in the Intox-28 study
Supervía A, Salgado E, Córdoba F, García Gibert L, Martínez Sánchez L, Moreno A, Fuentes E, Galicia Paredes M, Martínez Millán D, Clemente C, Nogué S
Affiliation of the authors
Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario del Mar, Barcelona, Spain. Grup de Treball de Toxicologia de la SoCMUE (SoCMUETox). Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain. Hospital Moises Broggi Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Consorci Sanitari Parc Taulí Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain. Área de Urgencias, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Joan XXIII, Tarragona, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain. Servei d’Emergències Mediques, Barcelona, Spain. Centre Forum, Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona, Spain.
Supervía A, Salgado E, Córdoba F, García Gibert L, Martínez Sánchez L, Moreno A, et al. Poisoning cases in Catalonia: characteristics according to age groups in the Intox-28 study. Emergencias. 2021;33:115-20
Summary
Background and objective.
The Toxicology Working Group of the Catalan Society of Emergency Medicine (SoCMUETox) began the Intox-28 study in 2013. The aim was to identify differences in poisoning cases between 3 age groups.
Methods.
Descriptive observational study of poisoning cases managed in 8 hospital emergency departments on the 28th day of each month from 2013 to 2019. We gathered information on patient particulars, type of poison, clinical data, and discharge destination. The patient sample was distributed into 3 groups for comparison: minors under the age of 17 years, adults aged 17 to 65 years, and adults over the age of 65 years.
Results.
The hospitals registered 1088 cases: 132, 859, and 97 in each age group. In comparisons between the minors and the adults aged 65 years or younger, the minors had more females (58.3% vs 46.1%), fewer recreational poisonings (22% vs 46.1%) more poisonings inside the home (67.4% vs 51.1%), more medication poisonings (49.2% vs 31.1%), and less often received treatment (43.2% vs 73%) (P < .001, all comparisons). The proportion of older adults receiving treatment (73.2%) was similar to that of the younger adults.
Conclusions.
The characteristics of poisonings vary according to age. Differences lie in gender, intentionality, and type of poison.
