1 Research Paper: Epidemiology of Acute Poisoning in Mazandaran Province, Iran Jamal Rezaei 1 , Ebrahim Nasiri 2* , Mosafa Moalemi 3 , Sohrab Padashi 4 , Mahbobeh Hatami 5 1. Medical Sciences Hisory , Medical Student Research Committee, Allied Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. 2. Department of Aneshesiology, Emergency Medicines, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Traditional And Complementary Medicine Research Cen- ter, Addiction Insitute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. 3. Department of Medical Sciences Hisory, Faculty Of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. 4. Department of Aneshesiology, Emergency Medicines, Faculty Of Allied Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University Of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. 5. Department of Health Information Management, Razi Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Ghaemshar, Iran. * Corresponding Author: Ebrahim Nasiri, PhD. Address: Department of Aneshesiology, Emergency Medicines, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Traditional And Complementary Medicine Research Center, Addiction Insitute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. Tel: +98 (11) 33044045 E-mail: rezanf2002@yahoo.com Background: Poisoning is a critical medical emergency worldwide. The present sudy aimed to determine the characterisics and treatment outcomes of patients admitted to the poisoning department. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive sudy was conducted from March 2015 to September 2016 (for 18 months). We explored the epidemiology of poisoned patients hospitalized at Razi and Imam hospitals in Mazandaran Province, Iran. The obtained results were described as the frequency of poisoning, percentages, confdence intervals (95% CI), and mean values. The sandard deviation scores were also presented for quantitative variables. The Student t-tes and Chi-squared tes were used for data analysis. Results: The prevalence rate of poisoning equaled 4.98% of the total hospitalized patients. Of 71192 of the invesigated cases, 3544 patients were hospitalized for acute poisoning. In terms of poisoning type, 65.2% belonged to drug toxicity, (95% CI) (64.7-77.2); 6.7% were related to methadone; 5.7% to an agricultural pesicide; 4.15% to aluminum phosphide (rice tablets); 2.2% to rat poison pase, and the remaining cases were caused by other poisons. There was a gender-wise signifcant diference in the poisoning method (P<0.001). The mortality rate in this sudy was calculated as 1.71% of all cases. The mos frequent causes of death were aluminum phosphide (33.33%) and narcotics (16.16%) poisonings. Conclusion: Acute poisoning is a fundamental health problem in Mazandaran Province, i.e., located in the north of Iran. Pharmaceutical medications, opioid agents, and aluminum phosphide were the main means of poisoning in the invesigated adult patients. Mos cases of poisoning occurred in the young-adult groups. Aluminum phosphide and organophosphate agents consumption generated the mos critical sates and were the main causes of death. It is suggesed that aluminum phosphate be recalled from the market, as appropriate training mus be provided for its proper use. A B S T R A C T Keywords: Lead poisoning, Epidemiology, Risk factors, Emergency service, Hospital Citation: Rezaei J, Nasiri E, Moalemi M, Padashi S, Hatami M. Epidemiology of Acute Poisoning in Mazandaran Province, Iran International Journal of Medical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine. 2020; 10(3): 27632. https://doi.org/10.32598/ijmtfm. v10i3.27632 https://doi.org/10.32598/ijmtfm.v10i3.27632 Use your device to scan and read the artcle online Article info: Received: 27 Oct 2019 Firs Revision: 12 Nov 2019 Accepted: 10 Mar 2020 Published: 28 Sep 2020 Summer 2020, Volume 10, Number 3