A Survey of Patients with Acute Poisoning in the Sivas Region, Turkey, between 1994 and 1998

This study was carried out over the period 1994-1998 for the purpose of observing the poisoning incidence and of presenting a poisoning profile of the Sivas region, Turkey. During the study period, 1521 patients were admitted to hospitals with various poisonings in Sivas and these were retrospectively analyzed. The results were evaluated by a chi-square test. In 1521 (1054 females, 467 males) poisoning cases, the mean annual incidence of poisonings was found to be 0.048%. When poisoning cases were assessed etiologically, drug poisonings rated first (54.8%). The most commonly ingested drugs were antidepressants (39%), analgesic-antiinflammatories (31%), antihypertensives (7%) and miscellaneous drugs (23%). When the age groups were examined in terms of sex, the ratio of females with acute poisonings decreased with age (p