The aim of this study has been to assess the characteristics of acute poisoning deaths in Poland over a period of time 2009-2013.
The analysis was based on the data obtained from the patient records ...stored in toxicology departments in 6 cities - Łódź, Kraków, Sosnowiec, Gdańsk, Wrocław and Poznań. Toxicological analyses were routinely performed in blood and/or urine. Major toxic substances were classified to one of the following categories: pharmaceuticals, alcohol group poisonings (ethanol and other alcohols), gases, solvents, drugs of abuse, pesticides, metals, mushrooms, others. Cases were analyzed according to the following criteria: year, age and gender of analyzed patients, toxic substance category and type of poisoning. The recorded fatal poisonings were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases.
The record of 261 deaths were retrospectively reviewed. There were 187 males (71.64%) and 74 females (28.36%) and the male to female ratio was 2.52. Alcohol group poisonings were more frequently responsible for deaths in men compared to all poisonings, 91.1% vs. 71.6%, respectively (p < 0.05), and pharmaceutical agents were more frequently responsible for deaths in women, 47.4% vs. 28.4%, (p < 0.05). Methanol was the most common agent in the alcohol group poisonings, accounting for 43.75% (N = 49), followed by ethylene glycol, 39.29% (N = 44), and ethanol, 16.96% (N = 19).
Epidemiological profile data from investigation of poisoning deaths in Poland may be very useful for the development of preventive programs. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(6):897-908.
The clinical toxicology of sodium hypochlorite Slaughter, Robin J.; Watts, Martin; Vale, J. Allister ...
Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.),
05/2019, Letnik:
57, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Introduction: Sodium hypochlorite is used as a bleaching and disinfecting agent and is commonly found in household bleach.
Objective: The objective is to review critically the epidemiology, ...mechanisms of toxicity, clinical features, diagnosis, and management of hypochlorite poisoning.
Methods: PubMed was searched from January 1950 to June 2018 using the terms "Hypochlorite", "Sodium Hypochlorite", "Sodium Oxychloride", "Hypochlorous Acid", "Bleach", "Chlorine Bleach", in combination with the keywords "poisoning", "poison", "toxicity", "ingestion", "adverse effects", "overdose", and "intoxication". In addition, bibliographies of identified articles were screened for additional relevant studies including non-indexed reports. Non-peer-reviewed sources were also included. These searches produced 110 citations which were considered relevant.
Epidemiology: There is limited information regarding statistical trends on world-wide poisoning from sodium hypochlorite. In the United States of America, poison control center data have shown that enquiries regarding hypochlorite bleaches have ranged from 43,000 to 46,000 per year over the period 2012-2016.
Mechanisms of toxicity: Hypochlorite's potential to cause toxicity is related to its oxidizing capacity and the pH of the solution. Toxicity arises from its corrosive activity upon contact with mucous membranes and skin.
Features following ingestion: While small accidental ingestions are very unlikely to cause clinically significant toxicity, large ingestions may cause corrosive gastrointestinal injury and systemic effects, including metabolic acidosis, hypernatremia, and hyperchloremia.
Features following dental exposure: Hypochlorite is used extensively by dentists for cleaning root canals and is safe if the solution remains within the root canal. Extrusions into the periapical area can result in severe pain with localized large and diffuse swelling and hemorrhage.
Features following skin exposure: Prolonged or extensive exposure may cause skin irritation and damage to the skin or dermal hypersensitivity. Such exposures can result in either immediate or delayed-type skin reactions. High concentration solutions have caused severe chemical skin burns.
Features following inhalation: Although there are only limited data, inhalation of hypochlorite alone is likely to lead to no more than mild irritation of the upper airways.
Features following ocular exposure: Corneal injuries from ocular exposure are generally mild with burning discomfort and superficial disturbance of the corneal epithelium with recovery within 1 or 2 days. With higher concentration solutions, severe eye irritation can occur.
Diagnosis: The diagnosis can typically be made on the basis of a careful history, including details of the specific product used, its hypochlorite concentration, and the amount involved. As hypochlorite bleach produces a characteristic smell of chlorine, this may provide a diagnostic clue. In severe cases, corrosive injury is suggested on presentation because of hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing, retrosternal pain or hematemesis.
Management: Symptom-directed supportive care is the mainstay of management. Gastrointestinal decontamination is not beneficial. Local corrosive injury is the major focus of treatment in severe cases. Fiberoptic endoscopy and CT thorax/abdomen are complimentary and have been shown to be useful in corrosive injuries in assessing the severity of injury, risk of mortality and risk of subsequent stricture formation and should be performed as soon as possible after ingestion. Dental periapical extrusion injuries should be left open for some minutes to allow bleeding through the tooth and to limit hematoma development in tissue spaces. Once the bleeding has ceased, the canal can be dressed with non-setting calcium hydroxide and sealed coronally.
Conclusions: Accidental ingestion of household bleach is not normally of clinical significance. However, those who ingest a large amount of a dilute formulation or a high concentration preparation can develop severe, and rarely fatal, corrosive injury so prompt supportive care is essential as there is no specific antidote. Treatment primarily consists of symptom-directed supportive care.
•Lead is a neurotoxin with a long history of use by humans.•Effects of low-level lead exposure on behavior and cognition are summarized.•Mechanisms of action for lead include neuronal and ...non-neuronal CNS targets.•The present level of concern set by the CDC for lead in blood is 5 μg/dL.•Lead levels below 3 μg/dL produce maladaptive behavior and cognitive deficits.
Lead is a neurotoxin that produces long-term, perhaps irreversible, effects on health and well-being. This article summarizes clinical and preclinical studies that have employed a variety of research techniques to examine the neurotoxic effects of low levels of lead exposure. A historical perspective is presented, followed by an overview of studies that examined behavioral and cognitive outcomes. In addition, a short summary of potential mechanisms of action is provided with a focus on calcium-dependent processes. The current level of concern, or reference level, set by the CDC is 5 μg/dL of lead in blood and a revision to 3.5 μg/dL has been suggested. However, levels of lead below 3 μg/dL have been shown to produce diminished cognitive function and maladaptive behavior in humans and animal models. Because much of the research has focused on higher concentrations of lead, work on low concentrations is needed to better understand the neurobehavioral effects and mechanisms of action of this neurotoxic metal.
Oral poisoning is a major cause of mortality and disability worldwide, with estimates of over 100,000 deaths due to unintentional poisoning each year and an overrepresentation of children below five ...years of age. Any effective intervention that laypeople can apply to limit or delay uptake or to evacuate, dilute or neutralize the poison before professional help arrives may limit toxicity and save lives.
To assess the effects of pre-hospital interventions (alone or in combination) for treating acute oral poisoning, available to and feasible for laypeople before the arrival of professional help.
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, ISI Web of Science, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and three clinical trials registries to 11 May 2017, and we also carried out reference checking and citation searching.
We included randomized controlled trials comparing interventions (alone or in combination) that are feasible in a pre-hospital setting for treating acute oral poisoning patients, including but potentially not limited to activated charcoal (AC), emetics, cathartics, diluents, neutralizing agents and body positioning.
Two reviewers independently performed study selection, data collection and assessment. Primary outcomes of this review were incidence of mortality and adverse events, plus incidence and severity of symptoms of poisoning. Secondary outcomes were duration of symptoms of poisoning, drug absorption, and incidence of hospitalization and ICU admission.
We included 24 trials involving 7099 participants. Using the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool, we assessed no study as being at low risk of bias for all domains. Many studies were poorly reported, so the risk of selection and detection biases were often unclear. Most studies reported important outcomes incompletely, and we judged them to be at high risk of reporting bias.All but one study enrolled oral poisoning patients in an emergency department; the remaining study was conducted in a pre-hospital setting. Fourteen studies included multiple toxic syndromes or did not specify, while the other studies specifically investigated paracetamol (2 studies), carbamazepine (2 studies), tricyclic antidepressant (2 studies), yellow oleander (2 studies), benzodiazepine (1 study), or toxic berry intoxication (1 study). Eighteen trials investigated the effects of activated charcoal (AC), administered as a single dose (SDAC) or in multiple doses (MDAC), alone or in combination with other first aid interventions (a cathartic) and/or hospital treatments. Six studies investigated syrup of ipecac plus other first aid interventions (SDAC + cathartic) versus ipecac alone. The collected evidence was mostly of low to very low certainty, often downgraded for indirectness, risk of bias or imprecision due to low numbers of events.First aid interventions that limit or delay the absorption of the poison in the bodyWe are uncertain about the effect of SDAC compared to no intervention on the incidence of adverse events in general (zero events in both treatment groups; 1 study, 451 participants) or vomiting specifically (Peto odds ratio (OR) 4.17, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30 to 57.26, 1 study, 25 participants), ICU admission (Peto OR 7.77, 95% CI 0.15 to 391.93, 1 study, 451 participants) and clinical deterioration (zero events in both treatment groups; 1 study, 451 participants) in participants with mixed types or paracetamol poisoning, as all evidence for these outcomes was of very low certainty. No studies assessed SDAC for mortality, duration of symptoms, drug absorption or hospitalization.Only one study compared SDAC to syrup of ipecac in participants with mixed types of poisoning, providing very low-certainty evidence. Therefore we are uncertain about the effects on Glasgow Coma Scale scores (mean difference (MD) -0.15, 95% CI -0.43 to 0.13, 1 study, 34 participants) or incidence of adverse events (risk ratio (RR) 1.24, 95% CI 0.26 to 5.83, 1 study, 34 participants). No information was available concerning mortality, duration of symptoms, drug absorption, hospitalization or ICU admission.This review also considered the added value of SDAC or MDAC to hospital interventions, which mostly included gastric lavage. No included studies investigated the use of body positioning in oral poisoning patients.First aid interventions that evacuate the poison from the gastrointestinal tractWe found one study comparing ipecac versus no intervention in toxic berry ingestion in a pre-hospital setting. Low-certainty evidence suggests there may be an increase in the incidence of adverse events, but the study did not report incidence of mortality, incidence or duration of symptoms of poisoning, drug absorption, hospitalization or ICU admission (103 participants).In addition, we also considered the added value of syrup of ipecac to SDAC plus a cathartic and the added value of a cathartic to SDAC.No studies used cathartics as an individual intervention.First aid interventions that neutralize or dilute the poison No included studies investigated the neutralization or dilution of the poison in oral poisoning patients.The review also considered combinations of different first aid interventions.
The studies included in this review provided mostly low- or very low-certainty evidence about the use of first aid interventions for acute oral poisoning. A key limitation was the fact that only one included study actually took place in a pre-hospital setting, which undermines our confidence in the applicability of these results to this setting. Thus, the amount of evidence collected was insufficient to draw any conclusions.
Diquat (1,1′-ethylene-2,2′-bipyridinium ion; DQ) is a nonselective quick-acting herbicide, which is used as contact and preharvest desiccant to control terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. Several ...cases of human poisoning were reported worldwide mainly due to intentional ingestion of the liquid formulations. Its toxic potential results from its ability to produce reactive oxygen and nitrogen species through redox cycling processes that can lead to oxidative stress and potentially cell death. Kidney is the main target organ due to DQ toxicokinetics and redox cycling. There is no antidote against DQ intoxications, and the efficacy of treatments currently applied is still unsatisfactory. The aim of this work was to review the most relevant human and experimental findings related to DQ, characterizing its chemistry, activity as herbicide, mechanisms of toxicity, consequences of poisoning, and potential therapeutic approaches taking into account previous experience in developing antidotes for paraquat, a more toxic bipyridinium herbicide.
Human poisoning by pesticides has long been seen as a severe public health problem. As early as 1990, a task force of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that about one million ...unintentional pesticide poisonings occur annually, leading to approximately 20,000 deaths. Thirty years on there is no up-to-date picture of global pesticide poisoning despite an increase in global pesticide use. Our aim was to systematically review the prevalence of unintentional, acute pesticide poisoning (UAPP), and to estimate the annual global number of UAPP.
We carried out a systematic review of the scientific literature published between 2006 and 2018, supplemented by mortality data from WHO. We extracted data from 157 publications and the WHO cause-of-death database, then performed country-wise synopses, and arrived at annual numbers of national UAPP. World-wide UAPP was estimated based on national figures and population data for regions defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In total 141 countries were covered, including 58 by the 157 articles and an additional 83 by data from the WHO Mortality Database. Approximately 740,000 annual cases of UAPP were reported by the extracted publications resulting from 7446 fatalities and 733,921 non-fatal cases. On this basis, we estimate that about 385 million cases of UAPP occur annually world-wide including around 11,000 fatalities. Based on a worldwide farming population of approximately 860 million this means that about 44% of farmers are poisoned by pesticides every year. The greatest estimated number of UAPP cases is in southern Asia, followed by south-eastern Asia and east Africa with regards to non-fatal UAPP.
Our study updates outdated figures on world-wide UAPP. Along with other estimates, robust evidence is presented that acute pesticide poisoning is an ongoing major global public health challenge. There is a need to recognize the high burden of non-fatal UAPP, particularly on farmers and farmworkers, and that the current focus solely on fatalities hampers international efforts in risk assessment and prevention of poisoning. Implementation of the international recommendations to phase out highly hazardous pesticides by the FAO Council could significantly reduce the burden of UAPP.
Context: Use of second generation antipsychotics in England and Wales has increased in recent years whilst prescription of first generation antipsychotics has decreased. Methods: To evaluate the ...impact of this change and of the withdrawal of thioridazine in 2000 on antipsychotic-related fatal poisoning, we reviewed all such deaths in England and Wales 1993-2013 recorded on the Office for National Statistics drug poisoning deaths database. We also reviewed antipsychotic prescribing in the community, England and Wales, 2001-2013. Use of routine mortality data: When an antipsychotic was recorded with other drug(s), the death certificate does not normally say if the antipsychotic caused the death rather than the other substance(s). A second consideration concerns intent. A record of "undetermined intent" is likely to have been intentional self-poisoning, the evidence being insufficient to be certain that the individual intended to kill. A record of drug abuse/dependence, on the other hand, is likely to have been associated with an unintentional death. Accuracy of the diagnosis of poisoning: When investigating a death in someone prescribed antipsychotics, toxicological analysis of biological samples collected post-mortem is usually performed. However, prolonged attempts at resuscitation, or diffusion from tissues into blood as autolysis proceeds, may serve to alter the composition of blood sampled after death from that circulating at death. With chlorpromazine and with olanzapine a further factor is that these compounds are notoriously unstable in post-mortem blood. Deaths from antipsychotics: There were 1544 antipsychotic-related poisoning deaths. Deaths in males (N = 948) were almost twice those in females. For most antipsychotics, the proportion of deaths in which a specific antipsychotic featured either alone, or only with alcohol was 30-40%, but for clozapine (193 deaths) such mentions totalled 66%. For clozapine, the proportion of deaths attributed to either intentional self-harm, or undetermined intent was 44%, but for all other drugs except haloperidol (20 deaths) the proportion was 56% or more. The annual number of antipsychotic-related deaths increased from some 55 per year (1.0 per million population) between 1993 and 1998 to 74 (1.5 per million population) in 2000, and then after falling slightly in 2002 increased steadily to reach 109 (1.9 per million population) in 2013. Intent: The annual number of intentional and unascertained intent poisoning deaths remained relatively constant throughout the study period (1993: 35 deaths, 2013: 38 deaths) hence the increase in antipsychotic-related deaths since 2002 was almost entirely in unintentional poisoning involving second generation antipsychotics. Clozapine, olanzapine, and quetiapine were the second generation antipsychotics mentioned most frequently in unintentional poisonings (99, 136, and 99 deaths, respectively). Mentions of diamorphine/morphine and methadone (67 and 99 deaths, respectively) together with an antipsychotic were mainly (84 and 90%, respectively) in either unintentional or drug abuse-related deaths. Deaths and community prescriptions: Deaths involving antipsychotics (10 or more deaths) were in the range 11.3-17.1 deaths per million community prescriptions in England and Wales, 2001-2013. Almost all (96%) such deaths now involve second generation antipsychotics. This is keeping with the increase in annual numbers of prescriptions of these drugs overall (<1 million in 2000, 7 million in 2013), largely driven by increases in prescriptions for olanzapine and quetiapine. In contrast, deaths involving thioridazine declined markedly (from 40 in 2000 to 10 in 2003-2013) in line with the fall in prescriptions for thioridazine from 2001. Conclusions: The removal of thioridazine has had no apparent effect on the incidence of antipsychotic-related fatal poisoning in England and Wales. That such deaths have increased steadily since 2001 is in large part attributable to an increase in unintentional deaths related to (i) clozapine, and (ii) co-exposure to opioids, principally diamorphine and methadone.
Highlights • We analysed data on fatal poisoning in drug addicts in 2012 from five Nordic countries. • Differences in death rate among fatal poisoned drug addicts diminished between the countries ...compared to earlier studies. • Opioids were the main cause of death among fatal poisoned drug addicts in all countries. • Medicinal opioids had mainly replaced heroin/morphine. • New psychoactive substances emerged.
Pesticide poisoning in children has been a serious public health issue around the world, especially in the developing countries where agriculture is still one of the largest economic sectors. The ...purpose of this study was to analyze epidemiological characteristics of acute pesticide poisoning in children from Zhejiang province, China.
The pesticide poisoning cases for children were retrieved from Occupational Disease Surveillance and Reporting System, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China. The incident cases, deaths, and fatality rate of child pesticide poisoning from 2006 through 2015 were calculated.
During the study period, totally 2952 children were poisoned by pesticides, with 66 deaths, resulting in a fatality rate of 2.24%. Among them, there were 1607 male cases with 28 deaths, and 1345 female cases with 38 deaths. Most of the cases occurred in preschool children (1349) and adolescent age group (1269). Organophosphate and carbamate insecticides were the cause of most poisonings (1130), leading to 34 deaths. The highest fatality rate (3.13%) was due to poisoning by herbicides and fungicides, causing 14 deaths out of 448 cases. Poisoning occurred mostly in rural areas (78%). And most pesticide poisoning occurred in the summer (896) and fall (811), while fewest poisoning cases in the winter (483) but with the highest fatality rate (3.52%).
This study shows that pesticide poisoning of children is a major health problem in Zhejiang, suggesting preventive strategies should be conducted to control childhood pesticide poisoning.
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