Toxicology presentations to a tertiary unit in New South Wales during the COVID‐19 pandemic first wave: A retrospective comparison study

Objective To compare presentation numbers, class of exposure, poison severity score (PSS) and drugs ingested by patients in a tertiary toxicology service during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic to the corresponding time periods in 2018 and 2019. Methods A retrospective cohort observational st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emergency medicine Australasia 2023-02, Vol.35 (1), p.105-111
Main Authors: Ng, Rachel WC, Emmerig, David, Salter, Mark Daniel, Shetty, Amith, Gunja, Naren
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID‐19
Emergency Service, Hospital
Humans
New South Wales - epidemiology
Original Research
pandemic
Pandemics
poisoning
Retrospective Studies
toxicology
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Summary:Objective To compare presentation numbers, class of exposure, poison severity score (PSS) and drugs ingested by patients in a tertiary toxicology service during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic to the corresponding time periods in 2018 and 2019. Methods A retrospective cohort observational study of patients admitted or consulted to the Western Sydney Toxicology Service (WSTS) from ED during February to May in 2018–2020. Patient age, sex, triage category, time and date of arrival, mode of arrival, type of poisoning, discharge location, length of stay and PSS were collected from WSTS database and electronic medical records. The total number of ED presentations, hospital admissions and toxicology admissions were gathered from hospital‐based data services. Results There was an overall increase in toxicology presentations in February to May 2020 (n = 441) compared to 2019 (n = 333) and 2018 (n = 255). The daily rate of presentations increased in March to May 2020 with an overall rate ratio of 1.42, 95% confidence interval 1.23–1.63, P 
ISSN:1742-6731
1742-6723
DOI:10.1111/1742-6723.14070