Sociodemographic, Clinical, and Laboratory Features of Cases of Organic Phosphorus Intoxication who Attended the Emergency Department in the Southeast Anatolian Region of Turkey

In this study, sociodemographic, laboratory, and clinical features of cases of organic phosphorus (OP) intoxication in the Southeast Anatolian region of Turkey were investigated. Patients with OP intoxication admitted to the Emergency Service of Dicle University Hospital in Diyarbakyır City between May and August 1998 were evaluated. This prospective cohort study included five male (M) and 19 female (F) consecutive patients. Five cases were accidental intoxication; however, 19 cases were suicide attempts. Mean age of cases was 24±11 years; 54.2% of them were under the age of 20 years and 83.3% of them were under the age of 30 years. The M/F ratio was 1.0/3.8. The cases of suicidal purposeful intoxications were mostly determined in singles (58.3%, P<0.05). Most of the cases had a primary education level (16, 66.7%) and a lower socioeconomic status (14, 58.3%); 79.2% of cases admitted to our emergency service received atropine in primary health care centers. In emergency service, pralidoxime (PAM) was administered to only 29.2% of cases. According to ECG examination, tachycardia (14, 58.3%), ST changes (13, 54.2%), and T changes (3, 12.5%) were mostly seen; bradycardia and serious ventricular arrhythmias were not seen in any case. Patients who received atropine plus PAM had higher rates of arrhythmias, but this was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The most observed biochemical features of cases were leukocytosis (21 cases), hypokalemia (18 cases), and hyponatremia (4 cases). Other biochemical features were not evidently altered. In present cases, the most frequently seen symptoms and findings were vomiting (18, 75%), feeling faint (17, 70.8%), and tachycardia and dozing off (14, 58.3%). Serious ventricular arrhythmias were not observed, and in our region, OP intoxication especially affected young unmarried females, and most of them resulted from a suicidal purpose.