Evaluation of demographic features of acute drug poisoning with Benzodiazepines; a cross – sectional study

Background: Poisoning is one of the important social problems in developing countries, and acute poisoning due to suicide by drug overdose or toxins is one of the most common cases of poisoning that requires emergency care. This study was aimed to determine the demographics of benzodiazepines poisoned patients in one of the referral centers for poisoning in Iran.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients who referred to the poisoning emergency ward of Loghman Hakim Hospital from April 2015 to March 2016. Among 10624 patients who referred to the hospital at the study period, 2543 of them were poisoned by benzodiazepines. A total of 263 patients were selected randomly and were assessed for age, gender and the type of the benzodiazepine. The data were analyzed by version 15 of SPSS software.Results: Among 263 patients, 127 were males (48.2%) and 136 were females (51.7%). The mean age of patients was 31 years old with a range of 13 – 80 years old. In addition, most patients were in the age of between 18 to 35 years (n = 152). In this study, 91 patients (34.6%) were single-drug poisoned with benzodiazepines and 172 cases (65.4%) were poisoned by multi-drug regimens including benzodiazepines. Between different types of benzodiazepines, the most common type was Alprazolam and the least common benzodiazepine was Oxazepam. Almost 96% of patients (n = 252) were treated successfully and 8 patients (3%) got discharged with self-consent. Furthermore, the mortality rate was approximately 1% (n = 3).Conclusion: Benzodiazepines poisoning is common in younger patients; thus, close attentions are needed for the prescription of these drugs in young patients. Considering easy access to benzodiazepines in the community, periodic visits to psychiatrists may be useful for the reduction of benzodiazepine poisoning

Toxic Agents Responsible for Acute Poisonings Treated at Four Medical Settings in Iran during 2012-2013: A Report from Iran's National Drug and Poison Information Center

Background: Acute poisoning has been reported to be the most common reason for hospitalization in Iran. This study was designed to delineate the toxic agents responsible for acute poisonings in Iran by reviewing poisoning cases treated at four major referral hospitals for treatment of poisoning across the country. Methods: This was a descriptive retrospective study on poisoned patients treated at four tertiary hospitals referral for poisoning in Iran, including Loghman Hakim Hospital (LHH) in Tehran, Imam Reza Hospital (IRH) in Mashhad, Noor and Ali Asghar Hospital (NAH) in Isfahan, and Ghaemshahr Razi Hospital (GRH) in Ghaemshahr, as reported to the National Drug and Poison Information Center during the years 2012 and 2013. Results: During the two-year study period, 61,187 poisoned patients (i.e. 32,107 patients in 2012 and 29,080 patients in 2013) were treated at the four hospitals. In these two years, 22,185 patients (36.3%) were treated at LHH, 22,160 patients (36.2%) at IRH, 10,897 patients (17.8%) at NAH and 5,945 patients (9.7%) at GRH. Cumulatively in all hospitals, the highest rate of admissions was due to drug poisoning (42,017, 68.7%), recreational substances overdose (7,302, 11.9%) and pesticide poisoning (5,217, 8.5%). Conclusion: Pharmaceutical products, substances of abuse and pesticides are the most common causes of poisoning-related admissions to referral Iranian poison treatment centers. Effective measures to reduce poisoning with these substances should be done