2011 Annual Report of the Poison Control Centre of Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

Background:  Poisoning is a growing public concern and real potential threat to the Egyptian community. The Poison Control centre (PCC), Ain Shams University, the first and larger in Egypt and the Middle East managed and treated more than 21.000 patients on the year 2011.
The aim of the study is to highlight the profile of poisoning in Poison Control Center Ain Shams University (Egypt) to facilitate the recognition of the different threats to which the Egyptian community is exposed.
Methods: Computerized data of a specially designed program comprised demographic in addition to clinical and management data of the poisoning cases received in PCC on the year 2011. A descriptive analysis and statistics of the medical records is accomplished.
Results: Overall, 21.550 poison exposure cases were recorded. Children under 7 years old were involved in 23.9% of cases, patients at group of age 15-40 years involved in 62.8%. In 49% of patients, the poisoning was deliberate. Attempted suicide was definitely more common in females and started as early as the pubertal age. Substances most frequently involved were food poisoning, organophosphate, cleaning products and tramadol that almost doubled yearly over the last few years. Clinical severity was mild in 75.1% of cases, 20.7% was moderate and 4.2% was severe. Sixty one fatalities were recorded. Management of these cases was described
Conclusions: Specific attention has been drawn towards attempted suicide in adolescents and early adulthood, the younger age of drug users and the progressive increase of some of drugs of abuse and the changing pattern of poisoning over years.