Summary

Acute poisoning: clinical characteristics and care management in a university hospital emergency department

Rosana Hueso-Pinazo¹, Beatriz Arnao-Recuenco¹, Ana Belén Payá-García¹, Rosa Martín-Ivorra¹, Patricia Elorza-Montesinos¹, Ander Goitia-Leizaola¹, Rafael Señer-Timoner², Patricia Polo-Montanero³, Eduardo López-Briz³, José Manuel Vallés-Tarrazona¹, María Manuela Morales-Suárez-Varela^4,5

Affiliation of the authors

¹Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain. ²Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain. ³Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain. ⁴Grupo de Investigación en Epidemiología Social y Nutricional, Farmacoepidemiología y Salud Pública. Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Ciencias de la Alimentación, Toxicología y Medicina Legal. Facultad de Farmacia y Ciencias de la Alimentación. Universitat de València, Spain. ⁵Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.

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Hueso-Pinazo R, Arnao-Recuenco B, Payá-García AB, Martín-Ivorra R, Elorza-Montesinos P, Goitia-Leizaola A, Señer-Timoner R, Polo-Montanero P, López-Briz E, Vallés-Tarrazona JM, Morales-Suárez-Varela MM. Acute poisoning: clinical characteristics and care management in a university hospital emergency department. Rev Esp Urg Emerg. 2025;4:21–9

Summary

OBJECTIVE. To study clinical characteristics and care management of acute poisoning attended in a university hospital emergencydepartment (ED).
MATERIAL AND METHODS. Retrospective observational study of acute poisoning attended in the ED of Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe in Valencia in 2021. We analyzed epidemiologic and clinical characteristics and resources required (prehospital care, care on arrival in the ED, care times, tests ordered, and treatments). Minimum costs for care were calculated.
RESULTS. A total of 1067 patients were treated in the emergency department in 2021; 0.6% of the cases were for acute poisoning. The mean (SD) age of patients was 31.98 (20.19) years; 47.8% were men and 52.2% women (P = .046). Medications were the most common substances (in 48.9% of patients) followed by alcohol (in 35.3%) and illicit drugs (in 9.8%). Poisoning was intentional in 91.5%. Polydrug use was involved in 38.4%, and 32.6% of the patients had a history of poisoning and 44.2% a history of mental illness. Prehospital care was needed by 52.9%. On arrival in the ED, 98.3% were hemodynamically stable, 69.2% were symptomatic, and 49.2% had neurologic symptoms. Treatment was required for 66.2%; tests were ordered for 79.7% and psychiatric evaluation for 41%. The mean length of stay in the ED was 455.86 (332.81) minutes (7.6 hours). For 16.6%, the stay exceeded 12 hours; 81.3% were discharged home, and 10.6% were admitted to hospital. No patient died. The average cost of ED care was €767 per patient, of which €240 corresponded to prehospital care.
CONCLUSIONS. Patient profiles differed according to type of poisoning, age, and gender. The cost of prehospital and ED care for patients with acute poisoning could exceed €1000 without counting costs of hospitalization.