Outcomes of paraquat poisoning in Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital
Category:
Background:
Paraquat poisoning is a public health problem in Thailand. It is a highly toxic herbicide with high mortality rate. So far, there has been no data indicating the effectiveness of specific treatment including immunosuppressive drug and antioxidant
Objective:
To determine the mortality rate and the complications among the patients with acute paraquat poisoning in Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital
Method:
This retrospective study recruited all patients in Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital who were diagnosed as acute paraquat poisoning during January 1st, 2012 - December 31th, 2014. Their medical records were reviewed.
Results:
There were 170 acute paraquat poisoning patients eligible for study. The mortality rate was 35.9% (61 patients). The complications comprised 82 patients (48.2%) with acute renal failure, 74 (43.5%) with acute respiratory failure, 54 (31.8 %) with hepatic dysfunction and 2 with lung fibrosis (1.2 %). The main cause of mortality was acute respiratory failure, found in 55 patients (90.2 %).The factors correlated to the mortality with statistical significance were Age (p-value=0.003), Acute kidney injury (p-value=0.004), Acute respiratory failure (p-value=0.001) and Hepatic dysfunction ( p-value=0.001).
Conclusion:
Mortality rate of patients with acute paraquat poisoning in Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima was 35.9%. With the comparison of the data between survivors versus non-survivors, age, acute renal failure, hepatic dysfunction and acute respiratory failure were significantly correlated to mortality.