Abstract:
Objective To study the characteristics of pesticide poisoning cases and furthermore to provide scientific evidence for preventive and therapeutic strategy.
Methods Collecting acute pesticide poisoning cases in a county-level hospital during 2002 through 2007, the key information was extracted and put into data base and statistic analysis was done.
Results There were 551 hospitalized cases of acute pesticide poisoning in the six years, among them 32 cases died, and the fatality rate was 5.8%. The poisoning cases and deaths were mainly caused by organophosphorus pesticides. The fatality rate of suicide caused by organophosphorus pesticides was up to 15.6%. Within one hour after knowing occurrence of poisoning, only 43.5% non-occupational poisoning case and 9.4% occupational poisoning cases were sent to hospital. Most cases transferred from low-level (township) hospital were the suicides with pesticide and had longer hospitalization time than the cases who were directly sent to the hospital. The cases caused by non-occupational pesticide poisoning had longer hospitalization time than those caused by occupational pesticide poisoning. Some 42.7% cases left hospital without full recovery when they felt improvement.
Conclusion The medical treatment should be careful among the non-occupational pesticide poisoning cases. Organophosphorus pesticides were also the most dangerous pesticide. The patients and their families seemed to be lack of correct knowledge of the urgency of treatment and course of pesticide poisoning.