Epidemiological Trends of Acute Chemical Poisoning among Children over a Recent Three-Year Period in Saudi Arabia.

Acute intoxication from chemicals is a major medical emergency that can result in illness and mortality. This retrospective study aims to evaluate acute chemical poisoning incidents among children in Saudi Arabia from 2019 to 2021. A total of 3009 children were recorded as being chemically intoxicated. The SPSS/PC statistics package was used for the statistical analysis. The acute chemical poisoning incidents that occurred in the age groups were <1 year: 237 (7.8%), 1-5 years: 2301 (76.4%), 6-12 years: 214 (7.1%), and 13-19 years: 257 (8.5%). The mean rate of acute chemical poisoning in the northern region was 40.1%. The most common poisonous agents were organic solvents (20.4%) and disinfection agents (22.7%). Interestingly, there is a significant relationship between the different types of acute chemical poisoning and various factors, including gender, age, the location where acute chemical intoxication occurred, the type of exposure, and whether these were intentional or unintentional events. The data suggest that the northern region of Saudi Arabia has had the highest number of recorded incidents of acute chemical poisoning over the last three years (2019-2021). Individuals between 1-5 years old were the worst hit. Organic solvents and detergents were to blame for the acute unintentional chemical poisonings that took place in homes. Therefore, educating the public about chemical poisoning and reducing children's exposure to toxic chemicals requires educational programs, which may help to reduce chemical poisoning occurrence.

Epidemiology of Chemical Poisoning among Adults in Qassim Region: An Eight-Year Study.

Chemical poisoning is considered a common medico-social problem that, in addition to causing extensive morbidity and mortality, dominates the valuable health care service resources. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the extent and frequency of chemical poisoning events among adults in Qassim region as well as the most common poisoning agents involved. A retrospective method of data collection was used employing medical record review for chemical poisoning cases that occurred in Qassim region during the 8-year period from January 2008 to December 2015. Data were collected using a standardized, validated data collection sheet. The study revealed that there is no steady trend (either decreasing or increasing) of the number of poisoning cases through time. There is a statistically significant association between the type of poisoning agent and gender (χ2 = 14.3104, p < 0.05). Moreover, there is a statistically significant association between the type of poisoning agent and period in years (χ2 = 19.7565, p < 0.05). It can be concluded that poisoning cases are distributed, to some extent, evenly between males and females, with no pattern through time. Educational programs are needed to raise public awareness about poisoning, especially among women.