Epidemiology of acute poisoning by substances of abuse in the Emergency Department. Descriptive study in District IV of Asturias /Epidemiologia de las intoxicaciones agudas por sustancias de abuso en Urgencias. Estudio descriptivo en el area IV de Asturias

• Published in: Adicciones (Palma de Mallorca) 2021-03, Vol.33 (1), p.43
• Main Authors: Garcia-Casas, Juan Bautista, Rodriguez-Getino, Jose Angel, Ugalde-Herra, Rodrigo, Fernandez-Ibanez, Ana, Diaz-Suarez, Jorge Cipriano
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• ISSN: 0214-4840

The incidence of acute poisonings has increased in recent years and constitutes approximately 2% of the services provided by the Emergency Department currently. The objective of this study is to describe the frequency and characteristics of the intoxications treated at the Central University Hospital of Asturias during 2015 from biochemical-analytical, epidemiological and medical-legal perspectives. We conducted a retrospective study and a descriptive analysis of the clinical and sociodemographic variables included in the acute intoxication (AI) protocol at the national level. This hospital treated 2,478 cases of acute poisoning, representing 2.3% of the emergencies treated and corresponding to an incidence of 764 cases/100,000 inhabitants/year with an age ranging from under 1 year to over 80 years. The average age of the patients was 43.6 (SD = 16.6) years. Of these patients, 59.4% were males with an average age of 44 (SD = 16.8) years, and women represented 43.1% with an average age of 42.8 (SD = 16.5) years. These intoxications have a frequency of 47.2% during the weekend, while 37.4% occur between June and September. Acute voluntary intoxication is the most frequent intentionality, corresponding to 83.2% of the cases. We must point out that the medical records register 16.8% of the cases as suicide attempts. Ethanol and benzodiazepines are the most commonly-used toxics. These intoxications are treated in the Emergency Department without requiring hospitalization and have a very low mortality rate. Keywords: Acute intoxication; Epidemiology; Toxicology; Suicide attempt; Alcohol intoxication; Drug overdose. La incidencia de las intoxicaciones agudas ha aumentado en los ultimos anos, y actualmente constituye aproximadamente el 2% de las atenciones sanitarias llevadas a cabo por los Servicios de Urgencias. El objetivo de este estudio es describir la frecuencia y caracteristicas de las intoxicaciones atendidas en el Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias durante el ano 2015 desde la perspectiva bioquimica-analitica, epidemiologica y medico-legal. Se realizo un estudio retrospectivo y un analisis descriptivo de las variables clinicas y sociodemograficas incluidas en el protocolo de intoxicacion aguda a nivel nacional. Este hospital atendio 2478 casos de intoxicaciones agudas representando el 2,3% de las urgencias atendidas y que corresponde a una incidencia de 764 casos/100000 habitantes/ano con un rango de edad de menores de 1 ano a mayores de 80 anos.