TY - JOUR PY - 2022// TI - Acute poisoning among patients attended to in an emergency department: from the pre-pandemic period to the new normality JO - Revista clínica española (Barc.) A1 - Caballero-Bermejo, A. F. A1 - Ortega-Pérez, J. A1 - Frontera-Juan, G. A1 - Homar-Amengual, C. A1 - Barceló-Martín, B. A1 - Puiguriguer-Ferrando, J. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused global changes that affect the daily life of the world's population, with a direct impact on individuals' physical and mental health as well as on their social and recreational habits.

METHODS: This study aimed to retrospectively analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients attended to for acute poisoning in a hospital emergency department (ED) at three different periods of time: pre-pandemic (2019), after strict lockdown of the population in Spain (2020), and post-pandemic (2021). We analyzed 2 months (June and July) in each period.

RESULTS: A total of 1,182 cases of acute poisoning were included. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, during lockdown, the number of patients with acute poisoning decreased (2019: 1.9% vs. 2020: 1.5%; p < 0.01); the ratio of men to women increased (2.0 vs. 1.4; p = 0.02); and the mean age of patients increased (2019: 31.4 vs. 2020: 41.3; p < 0.001), a trend which continued in 2021 (38.3). Poisoning with suicidal intention also increased during the pandemic (2019: 8.71% vs. 2020: 21.0%; p < 0.01) whereas poisonings with a recreational intention declined (2019: 76.1% vs. 2020: 62.0%; p < 0.01) with a non-significant increase in 2021 (69.0%, p = 0.07).

CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic generated clinical and epidemiological changes in the acute poisonings attended to in a hospital emergency department during the various phases of the pandemic.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 2254-8874 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rceng.2022.02.004 ID - ref1 ER -