Restrictions on Pesticides and Deliberate Self-Poisoning in Sri Lanka.

Importance: Deliberate self-poisoning using pesticides as a means of suicide is an important public health problem in low- and middle-income countries. Three highly toxic pesticides-dimethoate, fenthion, and paraquat-were removed from the market in Sri Lanka between 2008 and 2011. In 2015, less toxic pesticides (chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, carbofuran, and carbaryl) were restricted. Subsequent outcomes have not been well described. Objective: To explore the association of pesticide bans with pesticide self-poisonings and in-hospital deaths. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study with an interrupted time series design, data were prospectively collected on all patients with deliberate self-poisonings presenting to 10 Sri Lankan hospitals between March 31, 2002, and December 31, 2019, and analyzed by aggregated types of poisoning. The correlates of pesticide bans were estimated within the pesticide group and on self-poisonings within other substance groups. The data analysis was performed between April 1, 2002, and December 31, 2019. Exposures: Implementation of 2 sets of pesticide bans. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were changes in hospital presentations and in-hospital deaths related to pesticide self-poisoning as measured using segmented Poisson regression. Results: A total of 79 780 patients (median [IQR] age, 24 [18-34] years; 50.1% male) with self-poisoning from all causes were admitted to the study hospitals, with 29 389 poisonings (36.8%) due to pesticides. A total of 2859 patients died, 2084 (72.9%) of whom had ingested a pesticide. The first restrictions that targeted acutely toxic, highly hazardous pesticides were associated with an abrupt and sustained decline of the proportion of poisonings with pesticides (rate ratio [RR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.78-0.92) over the study period and increases in poisonings with medications (RR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.02-1.21) and household and industrial chemicals (RR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.05-1.36). The overall case fatality of pesticides significantly decreased (RR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.26-0.42) following the implementation of the 2008 to 2011 restrictions of highly hazardous pesticides. Following the 2015 restrictions of low-toxicity pesticides, hospitalizations were unchanged, and the number of deaths increased (RR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.39-2.83). Conclusions and Relevance: These findings support the restriction of acutely toxic pesticides in resource-poor countries to help reduce hospitalization for and deaths from deliberate self-poisonings and caution against arbitrary bans of less toxic pesticides while more toxic pesticides remain available.

Suicide by different methods in Toronto: A quantitative study examining of 23-years of coronial records.

The objective of the study is to understand the characteristics of people who died by different suicide methods in Toronto, Canada. Suicide cases were identified by the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario (1998-2020). Demographic and clinical variables were retrieved. All suicide deaths were classified into different groups based on suicide method. Bivariate analyses and multinomial logistic regressions were performed to compare their demographic and clinical characteristics. Hanging (N = 1721), jumping from height (N = 1280), and poisoning (N = 955) were the most common suicide methods in Toronto. Those who died by hanging were more likely to be married or in common law relationships, live with others, experience employment/financial/academic-related stressors and die at home. People who died by jumping from height had a higher likelihood of having a psychiatric and/or emergency department visit in the past week and having schizophrenia or related disorders/symptoms. People who died by poisoning had higher odds of being female and leaving suicide notes. They were also more likely to have previous suicide attempts, experience depression and/or bipolar disorder and have physical conditions. Specific suicide prevention strategies should be designed and implemented to account both for commonalities and differences among people who die by different suicide methods.

The rise in mortality due to intentional self-poisoning by medicines in Brazil between 2003 and 2022: relationship with regional and global crises.

In recent years, suicide rates in Brazil have increased, but little is known about the temporal behavior and characteristics of suicides due to intentional self-poisoning by medicines. The aim of the present study was to provide an overview of sociodemographic characteristics and place of death related to suicide due to intentional self-poisoning by medicines, to evaluate the trend of mortality rates in Brazil between 2003 and 2022, and its relationship with regional and global crises. Ecological time series study with data from the Mortality Information System of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, related to individuals aged 10 years and over, who committed suicides due to intentional drug overdose, in the period from 2003 to 2022. The analyses were performed in the R environment in RStudio. Between 2003 and 2022, there was a predominance of deaths in women (55.5%), individuals aged 30-49 years (47.2%), of White race/color (53.2%), occurring in health facilities (67.0%), using drugs or unspecified substances (40.4%); a higher concentration in the southern region (22.8%) and a positive trend in mortality rates due to intentional drug overdose, especially from 2016 onwards. A rise of 264% was observed in the comparison of 2022 and 2003. A peculiar sociodemographic profile was observed in the victims of intentional self-poisoning by medicines and a positive temporal trend in mortality rates, especially in a period marked by regional and global crises.

Suicide mortality according to occupation and method of suicide, Massachusetts, 2010-2019.

BACKGROUND: Suicide rates in the United States have been increasing. Work-related factors may contribute to risk for suicide. These work-related factors may be reflected in a varied risk for different suicide methods between occupations. This study sought to assess occupational differences in suicide rates according to the method used. METHODS: Death certificate data about suicide deaths in Massachusetts between 2010 and 2019 were used to calculate mortality rates and rate ratios with univariable and multivariable models controlling for age, sex, race ethnicity, and educational attainment for suicides overall, and for three specific methods of suicide (hanging/strangulation/suffocation, firearms, and poisoning) by occupation. RESULTS: In multivariate models, the risk for suicide was significantly elevated for workers in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (relative risk [RR] = 1.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.53, 2.22); construction trades (RR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.53, 1.84); protective services (RR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.26, 1.77); and healthcare support occupations (RR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.25, 1.93). Occupational risk for suicide differed across different methods. For hanging/strangulation/suffocation, workers in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations had the highest RR (2.09, 95% CI = 1.61, 2.71). For firearms, workers in protective service occupations had the highest RR (4.20, 95% CI = 3.30, 5.34). For poisoning, workers in life, physical, and social science occupations had the highest RR (2.32, 95% CI = 1.49, 3.60). CONCLUSIONS: These findings are useful for identifying vulnerable working populations for suicide. Additionally, some of the occupational differences in the risk for suicide and for specific methods of suicide may be due to workplace factors. Further research is needed to understand these workplace factors so that interventions can be designed for prevention.

Intoxicación fatal con paraquat por vía dérmica. Reporte de caso / Fatal paraquat poisoning by dermal exposure. Case report

Introducción: Por su alta letalidad el paraquat® es utilizado con fines suicidas, siendo la principal vía de uso, la oral; los casos por vía cutánea son escasos y raras veces son fatales. Este reporte presenta un caso de compromiso sistémico severo y muerte después de exposición dérmica a paraquat® . Resumen del caso: Paciente femenina de 47 años, soltera, ama de casa, de procedencia rural, con secundaria incompleta; e historia de aplicación de paraquat® en ulcera. A las 24h de aplicación presento fiebre, vómito y malestar general; al ingreso hospitalario presento además ictericia generalizada, insuficiencia renal aguda, insuficiencia respiratoria, deterioro progresivo de su estado de salud y muerte, por lo que fue remitida a autopsia médico legal. Los hallazgos de autopsia descartaron la ingesta oral y mostraron páncreas hemorrágico, riñones congestivos, hígado de tamaño aumentado (2550g) y hemorrágico, corazón aumentado de tamaño. Los estudios histopatológicos mostraron daño alveolar difuso, (membranas hialinas, edema y hemorragia); neumonía en pulmón y congestión visceral generalizada...(AU)

Intoxicación por plaguicidas en autopsias medicolegales. Tegucigalpa 2014-2020 / Poisoning by pesticides in medicolegal autopsies. Tegucigalpa 2014- 2020

Justificación: Los plaguicidas han provocado un significativo problema de salud pública ya que han generado una importante carga a la mortalidad y a la morbilidad. Los suicidios con plaguicidas representan alrededor de un tercio de todos los suicidios en el mundo. Objetivo: Caracterizar las muertes relacionadas a plaguicidas, sometidas a autopsia médico legal en la Dirección de Medicina Forense de Tegucigalpa durante los años 2014- 2020. Metodología: Se consultó la base de datos digital la Dirección de Medicina Forense, encontrando 255 casos relacionados a muerte por plaguicidas de los que se seleccionaron 215 casos con expediente completo y disponible. Los cálculos estadísticos se realizaron con el programa PSPP. Resultados: Se encontraron 215 casos, el 58% eran hombres y el 42% mujeres, 54% eran solteros y 29% en unión libre. Sin escolaridad 11%, primaria incompleta 20%, primaria completa 15%, secundaria incompleta 12%, secundaria completa 10%. Respecto a la ocupación de los fallecidos, los oficios domésticos fue la más frecuente entre las mujeres y la agricultura entre los hombres. El 65% eran personas jóvenes menores de 40 años con una media de edad de 35 años (rango 8- 89a). La manera de muerte más frecuente fue suicida con el 71%. El plaguicida más utilizado como instrumento de muerte fue el fosfuro de aluminio (66%).Conclusión: La mayoría de las muertes por intoxicación con plaguicidas fueron suicidas; hombres jóvenes, menores de 40 años, solteros, con escolaridad que no sobrepasaba la secundaria; utilizaron las pastillas de fosfuro de aluminio como instrumento de autolesión. Se requiere estudiar más detalladamente el uso de tóxicos en general y de los plaguicidas en particular como instrumentos de autolesión y se evidencia la necesidad imperiosa de habilitar medidas de regulación para la comercialización y campañas de educación en la población para el uso y manejo adecuado...(AU)

[Effects and significance of continuous hemoperfusion on patients with diquat poisoning].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of continuous hemoperfusion (HP) on the levels of soluble CD14 isoform (sCD14-st) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) on patients with diquat (DQ) poisoning and its significance. METHODS: A total of 86 patients with acute DQ poisoning admitted to the department of emergency medicine, Harrison International Peace Hospital Affiliated to Hebei Medical University from May 2018 to August 2021 were enrolled and divided into the intermittent HP group (40 cases) and the continuous HP group (46 cases) according to the random number table method. All patients received basic treatment and continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) within 24 hours after admission. On this basis, the intermittent HP group received HP treatment within 2 hours, lasting 2 hours each time for every 8 hours, 3 times in all; the continuous HP group received continued HP treatment until there was no DQ component in urine samples. Serum NGAL levels were detected in all patients before treatment and at 3 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, and 7 days after treatment. At the same time, serum sCD14-st, blood lactate (Lac), arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), serum creatinine (SCr), MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) levels were detected before treatment and at 24 hours, 3 days, and 7 days after treatment. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn to analyze the 28-day survival of patients. RESULTS: Before treatment, there was no significant difference in serum NGAL, sCD14-st, Lac, PaO2, SCr, CK-MB and IL-18 levels between the two groups. With the prolongation of treatment, the serum levels of NGAL, sCD14-st, Lac, SCr, CK-MB and IL-18 in the intermittent HP group increased at first and then decreased. Serum levels of NGAL, sCD14-st, CK-MB and IL-18 reached their peaks at 24 hours after treatment, and the Lac and SCr levels reached their peaks at 3 days after treatment. In addition, the levels of the above indexes at each time point in the continuous HP group were all significantly lower than those in the intermittent HP group [after 24 hours of treatment: NGAL (µg/L) was 345.90±30.75 vs. 404.24±38.79, sCD14-st (ng/L) was 1 941.88±298.02 vs. 2 656.35±347.93, CK-MB (U/L) was 30.67±9.11 vs. 43.28±8.06, IL-18 (ng/L) was 139.49±16.29 vs. 177.98±27.85; 3 days of treatment: Lac (mmol/L) was 2.98±0.26 vs. 3.72±0.49, SCr (µmol/L) was 125.01±24.24 vs. 156.74±28.88; all P < 0.05]. However, there was no significant difference in PaO2 levels between the two groups at each time point after treatment. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that the 28-day mortality of patients in the continuous HP group was significantly lower than that in the intermittent HP group [26.09% (12/46) vs. 52.50% (21/40); Log-Rank test: χ 2 = 7.288, P = 0.007]. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous HP could effectively reduce serum sCD14-st, NGAL levels and 28-day mortality in patients with DQ poisoning, with good curative effect.

Body Packer y Body Stuffer: Serie de Casos. Revisión / Body Packer y Body Stuffer: serie de casos. Revision

"Body packing", "Body pushing" y "Body stuffing" son distintas formas de transportar sustancias ilegales dentro del cuerpo humano. Frente al ingreso en la unidad de emergencias de un "Body Packer", conocido como "tragador de paquetes" con fines de contrabando o un "Body Stuffer" llamados "tragadores rápidos", quienes ingieren en forma compulsiva paquetes manufacturados para la venta de sustancias ante la posibilidad de ser sorprendidos por agentes de la ley; se plantean una serie de desafíos en cuanto al tratamiento que al día de hoy permanecen en debate. Generalmente se prefiere mantener una conducta conservadora facilitando la expulsión de los paquetes. En aquellos casos en los que los pacientes presenten paquetes atascados o rotos o no mejoren con el tratamiento conservador, se recomienda el tratamiento quirúrgico.El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo reportar una serie de casos internados por ingesta de paquetes potencialmente peligrosos que se sometieron a una evacuación farmacológica y/o quirúrgica en 8 pacientes y una revisión bibliográfica sobre el tema.

"Body packing", "Body pushing", and "Body stuffing" are different ways to use the interior of the human body to transport illegal substances. In the face of a "Body Packer" or a "Body Stuffer" known as "fast swallowers", which are those cases in which they compulsively swallow manufactured packages for the sale of substances before the possibility of being surprised by law enforcement officers, a series of challenges present themselves regarding the treatment, which is currently up for debate. Generally, a conservative conduct is preferred, facilitating the expulsion of the packages. In those cases, in which patients have stuck or broken packages or do not improve with conservative treatment, surgical treatment is recommended.The present paper aims to report a series of cases in which the patients were admitted due to an intake of potentially dangerous packages and put through a pharmacological evacuation and/or surgical evacuation of 8 patients, and a bibliographical revision on the subject.

Outcomes Associated With Caustic Ingestion Among Adults in a National Prospective Database in France.

Importance: Caustic ingestion in adults may result in death or severe digestive sequelae. The scarcity of nationwide epidemiological data leads to difficulties regarding the applicability of their analysis to less specialized centers, which are nevertheless largely involved in the emergency management of adverse outcomes following caustic ingestion. Objective: To assess outcomes associated with caustic ingestion in adults across a nationwide prospective database. Design, Settings, and Participants: Adult patients aged 16 to 96 admitted to the emergency department for caustic ingestion between January 2010 and December 2019 were identified from the French Medical Information System Database, which includes all patients admitted in an emergency setting in hospitals in France during this period. Exposure: Esophageal caustic ingestion. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was in-hospital patient outcomes following caustic ingestion. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess independent predictors of in-hospital morbidity and mortality. Results: Among 22 657 226 patients admitted on an emergency outpatient basis, 3544 (0.016%) had ingested caustic agents and were included in this study. The median (IQR) age in this population was 49 (34-63) years, and 1685 patients (48%) were women. Digestive necrosis requiring resection was present during the primary hospital stay in 388 patients with caustic ingestion (11%). Nonsurgical management was undertaken in 3156 (89%). A total of 1198 (34%) experienced complications, and 294 (8%) died. Pulmonary complications were the most frequent adverse event, occurring in 869 patients (24%). On multivariate analysis, predictors of mortality included old age, high comorbidity score, suicidal ingestion, intensive care unit admission during management, emergency surgery for digestive necrosis, and treatment in low-volume centers. On multivariate analysis, predictors of morbidity included old age, higher comorbidity score, intensive care unit admission during management, and emergency surgery for digestive necrosis. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, referral to expert centers was associated with improved early survival after caustic ingestion. If feasible, low-volume hospitals should consider transferring patients to larger centers instead of attempting on-site management.

Hospitalizations and deaths related to adverse drug events worldwide: Systematic review of studies with national coverage.

PURPOSE: Adverse drug events are related to negative outcomes in healthcare, including hospitalization, increased duration of hospital stay and death. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to evaluate hospitalizations and deaths related to adverse drug events worldwide, reported in studies with national coverage. METHODS: The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020157008). We performed a systematic search on Medline, Embase, CINAHL, LILACS, and the Cochrane Library (until March 2020) using pre-specified terms. We included published studies that reported data on hospitalizations and/or deaths related to adverse drug events from a national perspective and the use of secondary data as a source of information. Two reviewers independently extracted and synthesized data. The quality of the studies was assessed using an adapted version of the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies. Narrative summaries of findings were undertaken. RESULTS: Among 59,336 citations, 62 studies were included for data extraction and synthesis. Among these studies, 41 studies included the outcome of hospitalization, 16 included the death outcome, and five included both outcomes. Administrative databases regarding discharges and registries of vital statistics were the most common sources of information. The relative frequency of hospitalizations ranged from 0.03% to 7.3%, and from 9.7 to 383.0/100,000 population, whereas mortality rate ranged from 0.1 to 7.88/100,000 population. CONCLUSION: Our study highlights information about adverse drug events using large administrative databases in a national scenario and provides an overview of databases and methods implemented to detect adverse drug events.

Óbitos e internações de vítimas de eventos toxicológicos não medicamentosos no Brasil, 2009 a 2018 / Muertes y hospitalizaciones de víctimas de eventos toxicológicos no medicamentosos en Brasil, 2009 a 2018 / Deaths and hospitalizations of victims of non-drug toxicological events in Brazil, 2009 to 2018

Objetivo: determinar a taxa de internações por eventos agudos de intoxicação não medicamentosa (NMx) e analisar a mortalidade decorrente desses agravos no Brasil, de 2009 a 2018. Métodos: estudo de série temporal, no qual se analisaram registros de internações por "tratamento de intoxicação ou envenenamento por exposição a substâncias de uso não medicamentoso" no Sistema de Informações Hospitalares (SIH), por regressão de Prais-Winsten. Resultados: ocorreram 125.570 internações em virtude de intoxicação NMx. A taxa média de internações foi de 6,3/100 mil habitantes, sendo maior no sexo masculino (8,0/100 mil hab.) comparado ao feminino (4,6/100 mil hab.). A taxa de internações e a mortalidade geral de internações por intoxicação NMx diminuíram de 9,4 para 4,5/100 mil hab. e de 2,5 para 1,6/1 milhão de hab., respectivamente. Conclusões: houve redução da taxa de internações e da mortalidade por intoxicações NMx durante a década analisada.

Objetivo: determinar la tasa de hospitalizaciones por eventos agudos de intoxicación no medicamentosa (NMx) y analizar la mortalidad resultante en Brasil de 2009 a 2018. Métodos: estudio de serie temporal en el que se analizaron los registros de hospitalizaciones por "tratamiento de intoxicación o envenenamiento por exposición a sustancias de uso no farmacológico" del Sistema de Información Hospitalaria (SIH) por la regresión de Prais-Winsten. Resultados: hubo 125.570 hospitalizaciones por intoxicación NMx. La mortalidad promedio de hospitalizaciones fue de 6,3/100 mil hab., siendo más alta en el sexo masculino (8,0/100 mil hab.) en comparación con el femenino (4,6/100 mil hab.). La tasa de hospitalizaciones y la mortalidad global de las hospitalizaciones por NMx disminuyeron de 9,4 a 4,5 por 100 mil hab. y de 2,5 a 1,6 por 1 millón de hab., respectivamente. Conclusiones: hubo reducción en la tasa de hospitalizaciones y en la mortalidad por intoxicaciones NMx durante la década analizada.

Objective: to determine the rate of hospitalizations due to acute non-drug poisoning (NDP) events and to analyze mortality arising from these health conditions in Brazil from 2009 to 2018. Methods: this was a time-series study using Prais-Winsten regression to analyze records of hospitalizations for "treatment of intoxication or poisoning due to exposure to non-drug substances" held on the Hospital Information System. Results: there were 125,570 hospitalizations due to NDP. The average hospitalization rate was 6.3/100,000 inhabitants, although it was higher in males (8.0/100,000 inhab.) compared to females (4.6/100,000 inhab.). The hospitalization rate and the overall mortality rate due NDP to fell from 9.4 to 4.5/100,000 inhab. and from 2.5 to 1.6/1 million inhab., respectively. Conclusions: there was a reduction in the NDP hospitalization rate and in mortality due to NDP during the decade analyzed.

Antipsychotic-Related Fatal Poisoning, England and Wales, 1993-2019: The Impact of Second-Generation Antipsychotics.

BACKGROUND: Deaths from antipsychotic (AP) poisoning have increased in England and Wales despite restriction of the use of thioridazine in 2000. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Office for National Statistics drug-related death database, England and Wales, 1993-2019, to investigate fatal AP poisoning. RESULTS: There were 2286 deaths (62% male patients). Annual numbers of intentional AP-related fatal poisonings (suicides) were relatively stable (1993, 35; 2019, 44; median, 44; range, 30-60). Intentional overdose deaths involving clozapine (96 male, 25 female) increased from 1 in 1994 to 5 in 2003 and have since remained relatively constant (median, 6; range, 3-10 per annum). Unintentional second-generation AP-related fatal poisonings have increased steadily since 1998, featuring in 828 (74%) of all unintentional, AP-related fatal poisonings in the period studied (2019, 89%). There were 181 unintentional clozapine-related deaths, (107 [59%] alone without other drugs ± alcohol) as compared with 291 quetiapine-related deaths (86 [30%] alone without other drugs ± alcohol) and 314 unintentional olanzapine-related deaths (77 [25%] alone without other drugs ± alcohol). Some 75% of all unintentional clozapine- and olanzapine-related deaths were of male patients (78% and 73%, respectively) as compared with 58% of unintentional quetiapine-related fatal poisonings. Clozapine now features prominently in intentional and in unintentional AP-related fatal poisoning in England and Wales. Deaths of male patients predominate in both categories. There were also 77 and 86 deaths attributed to unintentional poisoning with olanzapine and with quetiapine, respectively, in the absence of other drugs. CONCLUSIONS: More effort is needed to prevent unintentional deaths not only from clozapine but also from olanzapine and quetiapine.

A novel flowchart to predict mortality and analyse effectiveness of routinely used pharmacological regimens in paraquat poisoning.

Paraquat is responsible for an extremely high case-fatality rate poisoning. Mortality prediction remains a major issue since evidence to support benefits of routinely used treatments is lacking. We aimed to develop an easy-to-use prediction flowchart not requiring the ingestion time, for which accuracy is frequently questionable, and to evaluate the effectiveness of routinely used pharmacological therapies on mortality. We designed a two-centre cohort study including consecutive paraquat-poisoned adults with confirmed diagnosis based on serum/urine paraquat measurement. We built a flowchart using a multivariate analysis of death predictors and analysed the outcome according to the administered therapies. Overall, 256 patients were enrolled. Mortality rate was 75%. Independent death predictors on admission were serum creatinine (odds ratio [OR], 5.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.97-13.05) and serum paraquat concentration (OR, 2.26; CI, 1.66-3.09). The area-under-the flowchart curve was 0.91. Overall sensitivity and specificity were 81.5% and 94.8%, respectively. More survivors than non-survivors of severe poisoning received methylprednisolone (P = 0.04). While not significantly differing in severity, methylprednisolone-treated patients had better survival (P = 0.04). To conclude, we defined an efficient flowchart to predict mortality in paraquat poisoning at presentation, even if ingestion time is undetermined. Methylprednisolone seems effective to improve the outcome, especially in the most severe cases.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in poisoning: a narrative review with clinical recommendations.

CONTEXT: Poisoning may lead to respiratory failure, shock, cardiac arrest, or death. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may be used to provide circulatory support, termed venoarterial (VA) ECMO; or respiratory support termed venovenous (VV) ECMO. The clinical utility of ECMO in poisoned patients remains unclear and guidelines on its use in this setting are lacking. OBJECTIVES: To perform a literature search and narrative review on the use of ECMO in poisonings. Additionally, to provide recommendations on the use of ECMO in poisonings from physicians with expertise in ECMO, medical toxicology, critical care, and emergency medicine. METHODS: A literature search in Ovid MEDLINE from 1946 to October 14, 2020, was performed to identify relevant articles with a strategy utilizing both MeSH terms and adjacency searching that encompassed both extracorporeal life support/ECMO/Membrane Oxygenation concepts and chemically-induced disorders/toxicity/poisoning concepts, which identified 318 unique records. Twelve additional manuscripts were identified by the authors for a total of 330 articles for screening, of which 156 were included for this report. NARRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW: The use of ECMO in poisoned patients is significantly increasing over time. Available retrospective data suggest that patients receiving VA ECMO for refractory shock or cardiac arrest due to poisoning have lower mortality as compared to those who receive VA ECMO for non-poisoning-related indications. Poisoned patients treated with ECMO have reduced mortality as compared to those treated without ECMO with similar severity of illness and after adjusted analyses, regardless of the type of ingestion. This is especially evident for poisoned patients with refractory cardiac arrest placed on VA ECMO (termed extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation [ECPR]). INDICATIONS: We suggest VA ECMO be considered for poisoned patients with refractory cardiogenic shock (continued shock with myocardial dysfunction despite fluid resuscitation, vasoactive support, and indicated toxicologic therapies such as glucagon, intravenous lipid emulsion, hyperinsulinemia euglycemia therapy, or others), and strongly considered for patients with cardiac arrest in institutions which are structured to deliver effective ECPR. VV ECMO should be considered in poisoned patients with ARDS or severe respiratory failure according to traditional indications for ECMO in this setting. CONTRAINDICATIONS: Patients with pre-existing comorbidities with low expected survival or recovery. Relative contraindications vary based on each center's experience but often include: severe brain injury; advanced age; unrepaired aortic dissection or severe aortic regurgitation in VA ECMO; irreversible organ injury; contraindication to systemic anticoagulation, such as severe hemorrhage. CONCLUSIONS: ECMO may provide hemodynamic or respiratory support to poisoned patients while they recover from the toxic exposure and metabolize or eliminate the toxic agent. Available literature suggests a potential benefit for ECMO use in selected poisoned patients with refractory shock, cardiac arrest, or respiratory failure. Future studies may help to further our understanding of the use and complications of ECMO in poisoned patients.

The prognostic value of red cell distribution width for in-hospital mortality in patients with methanol poisoning.

AIM: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a numerical measure of variability in the size of circulating erythrocytes and is routinely reported as a component of a complete blood count panel. It has been shown that higher RDW is associated with increased mortality and morbidity in several types of intoxication. This study was designed to evaluate the prognostic value of RDW for in-hospital mortality and need of invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with methanol poisoning. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients with methanol poisoning was performed using data from Adana City Training and Research Hospital obtained between January 2019 and January 2020. Patients' demographics, clinical features, the time elapsed between ingestion and presentation, the treatment applied, blood gas analysis, laboratory measures including RDW on admission, and clinical outcome were obtained. RESULTS: A total of 42 patients with methanol poisoning were included in the study with a mean age of 45 ± 11 years. The overall mortality was 21.4%. Values of RDW on admission were significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. The area under the receiver operating curve of RDW was 0.778 (95% CI: 0.567-0.988) for predicting in-hospital mortality and 0.762 (95% CI: 0.592-0.932) for predicting mechanical ventilator requirement. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that increased RDW on the first admission is associated with mortality and with mechanical ventilator requirement in patients with methanol poisoning.

Biomarkers of Inflammation and Inflammation-Related Indexes upon Emergency Department Admission Are Predictive for the Risk of Intensive Care Unit Hospitalization and Mortality in Acute Poisoning: A 6-Year Prospective Observational Study.

Patients poisoned with drugs and nonpharmaceutical substances are frequently admitted from the emergency department (ED) to a medical or ICU department. We hypothesized that biomarkers of inflammation and inflammation-related indexes based on the complete blood cell (CBC) count can identify acutely poisoned patients at increased risk for ICU hospitalization and death. We performed a 6-year prospective cohort study on 1548 adult patients. The demographic data, the levels of hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), CBC, and inflammation-related indexes based on CBC counts were collected upon admission and compared between survivors and nonsurvivors, based on the poison involved. Both a multivariate logistic regression model with only significant univariate predictors and a model including univariate predictors plus each log-transformed inflammation-related indexes for mortality were constructed. The importance of the variables for mortality was graphically represented using the nomogram. hs-CRP (odds ratio (OR), 1.38; 95% CI, 1.16-1.65, p < 0.001 for log-transformed hs-CRP), red cell distribution width (RDW), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were significantly associated with the risk of ICU hospitalization, after multivariable adjustment. Only RDW, NLR, and monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) were significantly associated with mortality. The predictive accuracy for mortality of the models which included either NLR (AUC 0.917, 95% CI 0.886-0.948) or MLR (AUC 0.916, 95% CI 0.884-0.948) showed a high ability for prognostic detection. The use of hs-CRP, RDW, NLR, and MLR upon ED admission are promising screening tools for predicting the outcomes of patients acutely intoxicated with undifferentiated poisons.

Assessment of glufosinate-containing herbicide exposure: A multi-center retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to glufosinate ammonium, an herbicide used worldwide, can cause CNS and respiratory toxicities. This study aimed to analyze acute human glufosinate ammonium poisoning. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This multicenter retrospective cohort study involved five medical institutes affiliated with the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital system. Patients with glufosinate ammonium exposure visiting the emergency department (ED) between January 2008 and December 2020 were included. RESULTS: In total, 95 patients were enrolled. Compared to exposure via the non-oral route, patients exposed orally (n = 61) had lower GCS scores, higher mortality rates, and longer hospital lengths of stay (P-value: <0.001, 0.002, and < 0.001, respectively). In the subgroup analysis among oral exposure patients, the survival group had a lower amount of estimated glufosinate ingestion than the non-survival group (10.5 [3.4-27] vs. 40.5 [27-47.3] g, P-value: 0.022), lower rate of substance co-exposure (9 [19.6%] vs. 10 [66.7%] P-value: 0.001), and lower rate of paraquat co-exposure (0 [0%] vs. 7 [46.7%] P < 0.001) compared with the mortality group. In the orally-exposed and non-paraquat co-exposure patients (n = 54), age > 70 years and GCS score < 9 at triage presented a high sensitivity (100.00%, 95% CI: 63.06-100.00%) and medium specificity (58.70%, 95% CI: 43.23-73.00%) in predicting mortality. CONCLUSION: Old age, change in consciousness, and paraquat co-exposure were associated with higher mortality in human glufosinate poisoning. Age > 70 years and GCS score < 9 at triage could be predictors of mortality in patients with acute oral glufosinate poisoning.

Glucocorticoid with cyclophosphamide for oral paraquat poisoning.

BACKGROUND: This an update of a Cochrane Review. Paraquat is a widely used herbicide, but is also a lethal poison. In some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) paraquat is commonly available and inexpensive, making poisoning prevention difficult. Most of the people poisoned by paraquat have taken it as a means of self-poisoning. Standard treatment for paraquat poisoning prevents further absorption and reduces the load of paraquat in the blood through haemoperfusion or haemodialysis. The effectiveness of standard treatments is extremely limited. The immune system plays an important role in exacerbating paraquat-induced lung fibrosis. Immunosuppressive treatment using glucocorticoid and cyclophosphamide in combination has been developed and studied as an intervention for paraquat poisoning. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of glucocorticoid with cyclophosphamide for moderate to severe oral paraquat poisoning. SEARCH METHODS: The most recent searches were run in September 2020. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (which contains the Cochrane Injuries Trials Register), Ovid MEDLINE(R), Ovid MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE Daily and Ovid OLDMEDLINE, Embase Classic + Embase (Ovid), ISI WOS (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, CPCI-S, and CPSI-SSH), and trials registries. We also searched the following three resources: China National Knowledge Infrastructure database (CNKI ); Wanfang Data (); and VIP () on 12 November 2020. We examined the reference lists of included studies and review papers. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs). For this update, in accordance with Cochrane Injuries' Group policy (2015), we included only prospectively registered RCTs for trials published after 2010. We included trials which assessed the effects of glucocorticoid with cyclophosphamide delivered in combination. Eligible comparators were standard care (with or without a placebo), or any other therapy in addition to standard care. Outcomes of interest included mortality and infections. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We calculated the mortality risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Where possible, we summarised data for all-cause mortality at relevant time periods (from hospital discharge to three months after discharge) in meta-analysis, using a fixed-effect model. We conducted sensitivity analyses based on factors including whether participants were assessed at baseline for plasma paraquat levels. We also reported data on infections within one week after initiation of treatment. MAIN RESULTS: We included four trials with a total of 463 participants. The included studies were conducted in Taiwan (Republic of China), Iran, and Sri Lanka. Most participants were male. The mean age of participants was 28 years. We judged two of the four included studies, including the largest and most recently conducted study (n = 299), to be at low risk of bias for key domains including sequence generation. We assessed one study to be at high risk of selection bias and another at unclear risk, since allocation concealment was either not mentioned in the trial report or explicitly not undertaken. We assessed three of the four studies to be at unclear risk of selective reporting, as no protocols could be identified. An important source of heterogeneity amongst the included studies was the method of assessment of participants' baseline severity using analysis of plasma levels (two studies employed this method, whilst the other two did not). No studies assessed the outcome of mortality at 30 days following ingestion of paraquat. Low-certainty evidence from two studies indicates that glucocorticoids with cyclophosphamide in addition to standard care may slightly reduce the risk of death in hospital compared to standard care alone ((RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.99; participants = 322); results come from sensitivity analysis excluding studies not assessing plasma at baseline). However, we have limited confidence in this finding as heterogeneity was high (I2 = 77%) and studies varied in terms of size and comparators. A single large study provided data showing that there may be little or no effect of treatment at three months post discharge from hospital (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.13; 1 study, 293 participants; low-certainty evidence); however, analysis of long-term results amongst participants whose injuries arose from self-poisoning must be interpreted with caution. We remain uncertain of the effect of glucocorticoids with cyclophosphamide on infection within one week after initiation of the treatment; this outcome was assessed by two small studies only (31 participants, very low-certainty evidence) that considered leukopenia as a proxy or risk factor for infection. Neither study reported infections in any participants. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Low-certainly evidence suggests that glucocorticoids with cyclophosphamide in addition to standard care may slightly reduce mortality in hospitalised people with oral paraquat poisoning. However, we have limited confidence in this finding because of substantial heterogeneity and concerns about imprecision. Glucocorticoids with cyclophosphamide in addition to standard care may have little or no effect on mortality at three months after hospital discharge. We are uncertain whether glucocorticoid with cyclophosphamide puts patients at an increased risk of infection due to the limited evidence available for this outcome. Future research should be prospectively registered and CONSORT-compliant. Investigators should attempt to ensure an adequate sample size, screen participants for inclusion rigorously, and seek long-term follow-up of participants. Investigators may wish to research the effects of glucocorticoid in combination with other treatments.

Drug-involved Infant Deaths in the United States, 2015-2017.

This report describes drug-involved infant deaths in the United States for 2015-2017 by type of drug involved and selected maternal and infant characteristics. Deaths are grouped according to whether drugs were the underlying or a contributing cause of death.