Hospital mortality among poisoned patients presenting unconscious

Abstract

Objectives. The hospital mortality from acute poisoning in the western world is approximately 0.6%. However, this figure is based on series of consecutive cases, including mild intoxications. The aim of this paper was to investigate the mortality among poisoned patients with CNS depression on admission. Design. This report is based on two case series. One observational study of 352 prospectively included cases of poisoning with a Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score ≤ 10 at presentation during the 2-year-period 2003–2005, and one retrospective review of all poisonings admitted to a hospital in Stockholm 2009–2011. Results. The observational study showed a hospital mortality rate of 2.8%. Nine of the 10 fatalities had a GCS score below 7 on admission. The more recent retrospective review consisted of 1314 cases of poisoning of whom 419 (32%) had a GCS score ≤ 10 on admission. The hospital mortality among these 419 cases was 2.4%. All 10 deaths in this cohort had a GCS score below 7 at presentation. The subgroup of patients pooled from both case series with a GCS score of 3–6 (n = 444) had a mortality rate of 4.3%. Conclusions. Based on the findings in this report, and on a literature search, about 30% of hospitalized poisonings have a significant CNS depression on admission. Based on our experience, cases of poisoning with a GCS score of 7–10 on admission do not seem to have a worse prognosis than poisonings in general. However, cases of poisoning presenting with deeper coma (GCS score 3–6) have a mortality rate approximately seven times higher than the overall hospital mortality from acute poisoning.

Keywords:

• Poisoning
• Prognosis
• Mortality rate
• Coma

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.