Sociodemographic Profile, Treatment-Seeking Patterns, and Psycho-Social Factors Related to Corrosive Poisoning in Adults: A Hospital-Based Study in Bangladesh

Corrosive poisoning remains an important public health problem in Bangladesh and other low and middle income countries, contributing substantially to morbidity, healthcare utilization, and socioeconomic burden. Unlike agricultural poisoning, corrosive ingestion is frequently associated with psycho-social stress, deliberate self-harm, and easy household access to caustic cleaning agents. However, contemporary evidence describing the sociodemographic characteristics, treatment-seeking behaviour, and precipitating psycho-social factors of corrosive poisoning in Bangladesh remains limited.to describe the sociodemographic profile, treatment-seeking behaviour, corrosive exposure pattern, and causal factors among adult patients admitted with corrosive poisoning to a tertiary care hospital. This hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 50 adult patients with corrosive poisoning in the Department of Medicine at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh, from October 2013 to April 2014. Data on demographic characteristics, education, residence, socioeconomic status, type of corrosive agent, treatment-seeking behavior, and psychosocial factors were collected through structured interviews. Descriptive statistics summarized the findings, and categorical variables were compared using the Chi-square test. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean age of the study population (Mean±SD=26.4±6.1) was concentrated in young adulthood, with the largest proportion (38.0%) in the 21–30-year age group, followed by ≤20 years (34.0%). Females constituted 64.0% of participants, yielding a female-to-male ratio of 1.8:1. More than half (56.0%) of the patients had completed secondary or higher secondary education, while over one-third (34%) had primary or informal education. Moreover, 68.0% of the patients resided in urban areas, with females constituting over two-thirds (67.65%) of the urban population. These socio-demographic factors were not significantly associated with sex (p > 0.05). Socio-economically, 44.0%, 38.0%, and only 18.0% belonged to the poor, middle-income, and upper-income group, respectively. Household cleaning products predominated, with Savlon accounting for 36.0% of ingestions, Harpic for 24.0%, bleach/Lysol for 16.0%, phenol for 10.0%, hydrochloric acid for 8.0%, and Sulphuric acid for 6.0%. Regarding healthcare utilization, nearly two-thirds (64.0%) sought treatment within 5 hours, while about one-third (32.0%) within 6-12 hours, and only 4.0% after 12 hours of ingestion. Overall, 58.0% presented directly to government hospitals, whereas 42.0% initially sought treatment elsewhere (private hospitals or clinics, private physicians, and quack practitioners) before referral. Familial disharmony was the most prevalent precipitating factor (48.0%), followed by romantic disappointment (28.0%), misunderstanding with parents (10.0%), educational stress (10.0%), and extramarital relationship problems (4.0%). Familial disharmony predominated among male participants, whereas romantic disappointment was substantially more frequent among females. However, the relationship between sex and the reported causal factors did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.074). Corrosive poisoning predominantly affected young urban females from socioeconomically disadvantaged households and was closely related to ps/ycho-social stressors, particularly familial disharmony. Household cleaning agents were the principal corrosive substances, and most patients sought medical attention within five hours. Public health interventions should focus on psycho-social support, community awareness, and strengthening emergency referral systems to reduce the burden of corrosive poisoning in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Med J. 2026 Jan; 55(1): 21-29