Introduction: Poisonings are important causes of emergency department visits. It is especially very common in youth and women. In this study we aimed to define clinical and demographic features of poisoning cases admitted to our hospital.Material and Methods: Poisoning cases admitted to the emergency department of Trakya University Hospital between the dates of January 2008 and January 2009 were evaluated retrospectively. Demographic features of patients, poisoning agents, aim of intake of poisonous agent, admission times, treatment methods, department treatment and outcomes were recorded. Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and percentage.Results: Between these dates, 2.2% of emergency department visits were poisonings. 460 patients were included in the study. Mean age of the patients was 25.6±11.5 years. 40% of the patients were male (n=184) and 60% were female (n=276). Mean admission time to the hospital was 229.6±150.6 minutes. It was detected that 62.4% of the patients were poisoned with a single agent and 95.1% took the agent orally. The most common poisoning agents were tablets (75.7%, n=348), carbon monoxide (CO) (5.4%, n=25) and alcohol (14.8%, n=68). 77.8% of the patients were discharged from the hospital, 21.3% were hospitalized, and 0.2% were sent to another hospital, and 0.7% were terminal.Conclusion: It was seen that poisoning cases were mostly seen in young females, occurring with single agent, and requiring good clinical care. Introduction Intoxication is the disruption of functions of a living organism by any agent 1 . Toxic substances have been used for centuries for suicide and/or homicide purposes. Intoxications have been one of the important public health challenges dating back to ancient times. The annual incidence varies 0.02% to 9.3% in developing countries. A significant portion of emergency department admissions are constituted by intoxication cases and can lead to serious results depending upon the agent and the admission time to hospital 23 . The prevalence is 0.4% according to data of the State Statistics Institute 4 . Intoxication cases exhibit regional differences in terms of demographic characteristics, intoxication fashion and agents to be exposed. Intoxication can occur not only due to the voluntary intake of agent but also accidentally or during a treatment. While intoxication can be accidental in children, it can occur as a result of suicidal intention. The aim of this study is to identify the clinical and demographic characteristics of intoxication cases admitted to the Trakya University Hospital emergency department. Material and Methods Patients admitted to Trakya University Hospital between the dates of January 2008 and January 2009 were evaluated retrospectively. Characteristics such as age and gender of the patients, weather conditions and the time the intoxication occurred, admission time and mode of transport, intoxication agents, routes, of contact with the substance, interventions done at the emergency department, and the results (discharge, forwarding, hospitalization, death etc) were recorded to the prepared form. Data were assessed with the SPSS 15.0 software package and expressed. Chi-squared (χ 2 ), Mann-Whitney U and Student t-test were used in statistical analysis and p<0.05 was accepted significant. Results During the study period, a total of 20,715 patients were admitted to emergency service and, 2. 2% of them were admitted due to intoxication. While 39.6% (n=182) of the intoxication patients came directly to the emergency department, the other 60.4 % of them (n=278) were forwarded to the emergency department. 40% of the patients (n=184) were male, 60% (n=276) of them were female, giving a female/male ratio of 1.5. Mean admission time to the hospital after intoxication was 231.8±169.1 minutes. 229.6±150.6 minutes in males and 233.4±180.6 in females respectively. Statistically no significant difference was found between the admission times in terms of gender (X
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