The influence of the COVID19 pandemic in the patterns of acute poisoning presenting to an emergency department in Spain

ABSTRACT

Objective: COVID-19 has left no healthcare system untouched. Adjustments to accommodate COVID-19 pandemic needs resulted in widespread deferment of non-COVID19 scheduled healthcare activities, added to a general patient's reluctance to visit healthcare settings. This study is aimed to analyse retrospectively demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with acute poisoning attended at the Emergency Department (ED) in three different pandemic periods of time. Material and/or methods: We carried out an observational and retrospective study in which we included all the patients who visited the Emergency Department at Hospital Son Espases due to acute poisoning during three different periods of time from June to July in 2019 (pre pandemic), same period in 2020 (right after the strict confinement in Spain) and in 2021 (post-pandemic). This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Balearic Islands. Results: All cases of acute poisoning were included (n = 1182). Patients with acute poisoning presenting to the ED decreased significantly during the pandemic (2019 1.9%, 2020 1.5%;p < 0.01). The ratio male/female and the mean age of the patients increased during the pandemic (2 vs. 1.4, p = 0.02, and 31.4 vs. 41.3 years, p < 0.001, respectively). The roll of poisoning in suicide attempts increased substantially during the pandemic (2019 8.71%, 2020 21%;p < 0.01), mostly driven by the increase in poisoning due to commercially available drugs (2019 14.20%;2020 28.76%, p < 0.01), while recreational drug poisoning decreased (2019 76.1%, 2020 62%;p < 0.01), while in 2021, figures tended to return to prior patterns. Conclusions: This study found significant changes in some clinical patterns in patients attending the ED due to acute poisoning in the context of COVID19, in line with the already described impact of the pandemic in other areas of the healthcare system.