Toxicology and Pharmacology

Biography

Abdullah Alrajeh is an Emergency Medical Services intern at King Abdulaziz Medical City - Riyadh. He is from King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences - Riyadh, currently in the internship year. His current research is chemical toxicity, exposure and complications. He is interested in Toxicology in the emergency field. 

Abstract

Chemical intoxication is showing undesirable signs and symptoms that might be mild to severe and may end with death. This research is aimed to clarify the prevalence of chemical toxicity patients in King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), and their way of exposure to determine if it is inhaled, absorbed, ingested or injected. Finally, in this research we evaluated the demographics of the patients that presented to the emergency room (ER). Also, the study design will be a quantitative retrospective cohort study. The study was conducted in the Department of Emergency in KAMC-Riyadh. Sample size was 250 patients, and the sample technique was consecutive sampling. The data collected was entered in MS Excel and SPSS program. The results are, a total of 250 patients were included in the study, and 141 of those patients were females (56%). Out of 250 patients, 186 patients (74.4%) were paediatrics. The pediatric/adult ratio was 2.90/1. The analysis showed that in 178 patients (71.2%) the cause of poisonings was medications, in 10 patients (4%) snakes and scorpions bites, in 8 patients (3.2%) a caustic substance and organophosphate, in 5 patients (2%) rat poison, in 3 patients (1.2%) CO poisoning, in 33 patients (13.2%) foreign bodies includes cosmetics products and others found at houses, and there were 13 patients (5.2%) suspected to have toxins. Out of the 250 patients, there were no complications in 202 patients (80.8%), in 48 patients (19.2%) there were some complications, such as Q&T wave changes and heart blocks, but no death cases has been recorded. In conclusion, the result of the study shows that, chemical poisoning are more common in pediatrics than adults and females than males, and the most common type is by medications. Finally, parents should be educated more to keep medications out of reach from children, psychotic patients and suicidal members