Shivendra Jha, B. N. Yadav, Dr. Shivendra Jha
ABSTRACT
Acute poisoning is the major cause of suicide and public health problem all over the world. Since morbidity and mortality due to poisoning has been found higher in our region too, it was aimed to explore trends of poisoning with its medicolegal aspects in our setup. 149 fatal cases of acute poisoning sent for postmortem examination in BPKIHS Mortuary from March 14, 2010 to 2011were prospectively studied. The detailed information was collected from: the inquest report and other relevant papers; interview with the police, relatives, neighbors and autopsy findings. Detail descriptive statistics was used. Majority victims were males belonging to 15-24 yrs age group. Maximum (29.5%) had primary level education and nearly half of the victims (49.7%) were unemployed. More than two third (69%) were married and housewives. Most of the victims (34.2%) consumed poison in late evening (8-11 pm) at home. Organophosphorous compounds (87.2%) were the commonest poison used. Majority (87.2%) of cases were suicidal, socioeconomic (48.32%) being the commonest cause. Suicidal note was absent in maximum cases (95.3%). 93% died in their first attempt. Acute fatal poisoning consuming organophosphorus compounds is commonest in young adult males. Youth employment and proper counseling for stressful situations seems necessary to reduce these fatalities.
Keywords: acute poisoning, organophosphorus, suicide