Evaluation of Poisoning Cases Followed at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Faculty of Medicine Dursun Odabaş Medical Center: An Eight-Year Retrospective Analysis

INTRODUCTION: Poisoning cases constitute approximately 0.7-5% of emergency department visits in Türkiye. This study aimed to investigate the demographic, etiological, and clinical characteristics of poisoning cases presenting to the XXXXX over 8 year period. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in the adult and pediatric emergency departments. Records of all patient admissions between 2010 and 2018 were reviewed to identify cases diagnosed with intoxication. Data were obtained from the hospital's electronic database using the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) coding system. The patients' demographic characteristics, intoxication agents, modes of exposure, treatment processes, need for ICU admission, and in hospital mortality rate were analyzed in the study. RESULTS: It was found that 0,63% (n=2,090) of total admissions were intoxication cases. While poisoning cases were most concentrated in the 19–30 age group (25.1%, n=525), the overall age range ranged from 3 months to 85 years. Of the cases, 62.3% (n=1,303) were accidental, while 37.7% (n=787) were due to suicide attempts. Etiologically, the most common agents were drugs and biological substances, accounting for 54.6% (n=1,142) of the cases. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was low at 0.14% (n=3). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study identifies a female predominance (57.7%) and a decreasing incidence trend over eight years, aligning with global patterns. While childhood cases are primarily accidental, suicidal intent (p=0.021) and medical agent ingestion (p<0.001) emerge as critical 'red flags' significantly associated with severe clinical presentations requiring inpatient care. These findings emphasize the need for gender-specific psychosocial support and community education to reduce the persistent burden on emergency departments.