Prevalence, Predictors and Treatment Outcome of Acute Poisoning in Western Ethiopia

Figures & data

Table 1 Patients’ Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Study Participants

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percentage
Age in year	<5	5	3.7
	5 to 11	6	4.5
	12 to 17	21	15.7
	18 to 29	68	50.7
	30 to 39	23	17.2
	40 to 49	8	6.0
	≥50	3	2.2
	Mean ±SD	23.90±10.606
Residence	Rural	41	30.6
	Urban	93	69.4
Sex	Male	69	51.5
	Female	65	48.5
Education level	N/A*	5	3.7
	Cannot read and write	28	20.9
	Primary(1 to 8)	35	26.1
	Secondary(9 to 12)	31	23.1
	Certificate/Diploma and above	35	26.1
Patient status at admission	Conscious	40	29.9
	Unconscious	94	70.1
Source/place poisoning	Home	119	88.8
	Hotel	9	6.7
	Workplace	3	2.2
	Forest	3	2.2
Season of poisoning	Summer	58	43.3
	Spring	41	30.6
	Autumn	14	10.4
	Winter	21	15.7

Note: *Too young to start education.

Table 2 Distribution of Type of Poisoning Agent, Manner, and Reason for Poisoning

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Type of poison (N=134)	Organophosphate	72	53.7
	Prescription drug	10	7.5
	Food poisoning	10	7.5
	Other	10	7.5
	Alcohol	10	7.5
	Herbal medication	7	5.2
	Hydrogen peroxide	2	1.5
	Kerosene	1	0.7
	Benzene	3	2.2
	Carbon monoxide	4	3.0
	Unknown chemical	5	3.7
Manner of poisoning (N= 134)	Intentional	103	76.9
	Unintentional	31	23.1
Reason of clients for intentional poisoning (N= 103)	Family disharmony	38	36.9
	Unknown	35	34.0
	Exam failure or University dismissal	4	3.9
	Un-planed pregnancy	6	5.8
	Marital disharmony	3	2.9
	Financial problem/loss of money	7	6.8
	Unemployment	4	3.9
	Conflict on a work area	4	3.9
	Mental disorder	1	1.0
	Being RVI	1	1.0
Dosage form/Route of exposure (N= 134)	Solid or liquid/Oral	122	91.0
	Gas/Inhalation	9	6.7
	Eye drop/topical	3	2.2

Note: Other, aluminum phosphate, aluminum phosphatide, bleaching agent, hydrocarbon.

Abbreviation: RVI, retroviral infection.

Figure 1 Overall distribution of poisoning cases by gender and age.

Figure 2 Overall distribution of chemicals contributed to poisoning by age.

Figure 3 Distribution of manner or intension of poisoning by age and gender.

Notes: I_Female is intentional poisoning in females; Un_female is unintentional poisoning in females and vice versa.

Table 3 Acute Poisoning Management Practice and Its Outcome

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percentage
Time of arrival to the hospital since the poisoning	≤1 hour	28	20.9
	>1 to ≤5 hours	91	67.9
	>5 hours	15	11.2
	Mean ± SD	3.235±2.76
Non-pharmacologic treatment	Gastric lavage	18	13.4
	Not given	114	85.1
	Oxygen therapy	4	3.0
Time arrival and gastric lavage (N= 18)	≤1 hour	4	22.2
	>1 to ≤5 hours	9	50.0
	>5 hours	5	27.8
Pharmacologic treatment*	Antacid	54	40.3
	Cimetidine/ranitidine	45	33.6
	Atropine	23	17.2
	Analgesics	12	9.0
	40% dextrose	9	6.7
	Maintenance fluid	8	6.0
	Omeprazole/pantoprazole	7	5.2
	Metoclopramide or plasil	6	4.5
	Antibiotics	8	6.0
	Diazepam or haloperidol or phenobarbitone	5	3.7
	Other	4	3.0
Length of hospital stay (days)	1	56	41.8
	2	52	38.8
	3	18	13.4
	4	5	3.7
	≥5	3	2.2
	Mean ±SD	1.86± 0.943
Treatment outcome	Cure without disability	117	87.3
	Cure with disability	15	11.2
	Death	2	1.5

Notes: Other, antidote, tetracycline eye ointment, zoxan eye drop; *There is a multiple response.

Figure 4 Time of arrival to the hospital since poisoning versus treatment outcome and length of hospital stay.

Abbreviations: Rx, treatment; LOS, length of hospital stay.

Table 4 Independent Predictors for Treatment Outcome of Acute Poisoning

Variables	Category	Treatment Outcome, N=134		AOR	95% CI	P-value*
		Good (%)	Poor (%)
Age	<19	37(94.9)	2(5.1)	1
	19 to34	64(87.7)	9(12.3)	2.515	0.441–14.358	0.299
	≥35	16(72.7)	6(27.3)	6.63	1.006–43.693	0.049
Sex	Male	56(81.2)	13(18.8)	1		0.027
	Female	61(93.8)	4(6.2)	0.282	0.087–0.92
Residence	Rural	38(92.7)	3(7.3)			0.215
	Urban	79(84.9)	14(15.1)	2.245	0.608–8.3
Patient status	Conscious	35(87.5)	5(12.5)	1		0.97
	Unconscious	82(87.2)	12(12.8)	1.024	0.336–3.126
Manner of poisoning	Intentional	91(88.3)	12(11.7)			0.542
	Unintentional	26(83.9)	5(16.1)	1.5	0.471–4.52
Time of arrival since exposure (hours)	≤1	27(96.4)	1(3.6)	1
	>1 to ≤5	78(85.7)	13(14.3)	5.170	0.586–45.594	0.139
	>5	12(80.0)	3(20.0)	4.317	0.355–52.554	0.251
Hospital stay	≤48	97(89.8)	11(10.2)	1		0.035
	>48	20(76.9)	6(23.1)	3.584	1.094–11.724

Note: *Multivariate analysis result.

Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.