A clinical study was made on 234 cases of acute drug intoxications who visited to emergency room of Kon Kuk University Hospital during recent 4 years from January 1990 to December 1993. The following results were obtained.
Total number of cases of acute drug intoxications was 234 which comprised 0.46% of total number of patients of the emergency room during the same period. The ratio of male to female was 1: 1.07. The highest age incidence was in the third
decade(27.8%).
The monthly incidence was highest in July. Higher frequency was observed in summer season. The most common drug of the intoxication was pesticides and herbicides(52.6%), the remainders were sedatives and analgesics(24.8%), miscellaneous
drugs(13.2%),
rodenticides(5.6%) and unknown drugs(3.8%) in orders. The most common cause of drug intoxication was suicide(60.3%) and the others were accident, intention, unknown causes in orders. Main clinical manifestations were the impaired consciousness,
nausea,
vomiting, dizziness and dyspnea. Physical examination revealed tachycardia, increased blood pressure, miosis of the pupil and sweating. The complications were developed in 15.8% among 234 cases and common complications were respiratory failure,
cardiovascular collapse, pneumonia, renal failure, pulmonary edema, brain edema in orders. Overall mortality rate was 8.1% of total cases and the mortality rate was highest in herbicide intoxication(29.4%).
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