Risk Factors for Opioids and Stimulants Poisoning among Patients Admitted to Khorshid Hospital in Isfahan

Poisoning by opium and stimulants brings many patients to the poison emergency departments every year. This study planned to determine the risk factors for Opioid and Stimulant poisoning among patients admitted to the Khorshid Hospital.

The present cross-sectional study was performed on 243 patients poisoned with opioids or stimulants in Khorshid Hospital of Isfahan during December 2018 to the December 2019. The data about demographic variables including: (sex, age, marital status, occupation), type of intoxication (opium, heroin), and or stimulants(hashish, cannabis, marijuana, amphetamine) and intoxication with other substances, cause of intoxication, type of intoxication (accidental, intentional), method of intoxication (oral, inhalation, intravenous injection, intramuscular or subcutaneous injection, etc.), poisoning with other drugs, vital signs at entering the ward, length of stay in the poisoned ward, treatment outcome (recovery or death), and cause of death were extracted from the patients' files. The data were analyzed using the ANOVA and the Chi-square tests.

The results of this study showed that the most substance poisoning in individual of Iranian nationality was heroin and in non-Iranian was opium. In addition, substance poisoning was more common in men, especially in the age group of 31-35 years, and among the unemployed or self-employed, as well as among those with a diploma or lower.

According to the results of the present study, among opioid, heroin poisoning was the most and among stimulants, amphetamine was the most. Also, most of the poisoned people were under 40 years old and had low education.