Profile of Poisoning Cases in a Tertiary care center in Northern Uttar Pradesh

Introduction: Poisoning is an important health hazard and one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. The incidence of poisoning cases is increasing steadily with each passing year. Burden of poisoning is high but less authentic data is available on it as hospital records, population surveys and data registered by governmental authorities. With this background, present study is conducted to determine various socio –demographic factors responsible for poisoning in patients. Material and Methods: It was an observational study, carried out in Dept of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. All patients admitted with history of poisoning or suspected poisoning in the institute, who attended in casualty, ICU and ward during study period were included in study. Written informed consent was taken from the cases or relatives. Information was collected from his/her accompanying family members if condition of the case was found to be unfavourable to respond to questions. Results: Majority of the cases were in the age group of 15-44 years (81.52%), Majority of poisoning cases 60.23% were married. The commonest poison to which cases were exposed was an organophosphorus compound which was seen in 61.36%) cases. The most common cause for consuming poison was found to be domestic 324 (45.70%). Conclusion: Present study showed that poisoning was commonly seen in the working age group. Males consumed/exposed to poison more as compared to females. Married males were affected more. Most commonly consumed/exposed poison was organophosphorus compounds.