Frequency of non-medicinal poisoning in inpatient of hospitals of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2010-2011

Background and purpose: Every year millions of people become ill due to poisoning. Many even die due to severity of complications. Identifying the pattern of poisoning helps to prevent it. Non- medicinal materials have a wide range of variety which are easily available. This study was done to determine the frequency of non-medicinal poisoning. Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done using the medical records of 581 inpatients admitted to the hospitals affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2010-2011. The cases of non-medicinal poisoning were classified according to 10 th revision of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) which included alcohol, organic solvent, halogen derivatives, corrosive substance, detergent, metals, inorganic substance, carbon monoxide, gases, fumes and vapors, pesticide, noxious substance eaten as seafood, noxious substance eaten as food, and unspecified substances. The data was analyzed using x 2 and descriptive statistics in SPSS. Results: Among 1546 inpatients diagnosed with poisoning, 581(37l5%) were found with non- medicinal poisoning whose mean age was 29±17 years. They were 231(39.8%) female and 350(60.2%) male. Among the studied cases 300 poisonings were found intentionally. The main reasons were insecticide poisoning (276 (47.5%) cases), arthropods poisoning (96(16.3%) cases), alcohol poisoning (76(13%) cases), organic solvent (40 cases) from which 38(95%) were children. Conclusion: According to the result of this study, the most cause of poisoning was insecticides. Preventive program for all people exposed to such dangers could help in reducing the rate of non-medicinal poisoning. Moreover, counseling programs should be performed for cases with intentional poisoning.