Professional paper
Cases of Acute Poisoning Admitted to Clinical Hospital Merkur in Zagreb in 1999
Ingrid Prkačin
Svetozar Vujanić
Nives Dabo
Iva Palčić
Slavica Mihalić-Naumovski
Abstract
This paper describes 170 cases of acute poisoning in 60 men and 110 women admitted to emergency room from January through November 1999. Ninety-eight percent of acute poisonings were selfinflicted, and 90% occurred at home. Drugs were used in 134 (79%) suicide attempts. Eighty-one acute poisonings were caused by benzodiazepines (48%) and 19 by antidepressants (11%). Alcohol intoxication, alone or combined with the intake of psychoactive drug (28 cases, 16%) predominated in men. Cocaine was the most common narcotic drug, taken by 31 patients (16%). Other acute poisonings involved ecstasy (4 cases), CO (6 cases), and HCl inhalation (2 cases). Previous suicide attempts due to depression were found in 68 patients (40%). Fifty patients (29%) were comatose on admission, 24 were transferred to intensive care, and 3 died. Data such as these can be very useful for handling self-inflicted acute poisonings and for planning long-term health care activities.
Keywords
alcoholic intoxication; antidepressants; benzodiazepines; CO inhalation; cocaine; HCl inhalation; narcotic drugs
Hrčak ID:
515
URI
Publication date:
4.12.2001.
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