• A F Caballero-Bermejo, J Ortega-Pérez, G Frontera-Juan, C Homar-Amengual, B Barceló-Martín, and J Puiguriguer-Ferrando.
• Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Puerta de Hierro-Segovia de Arana, Majadahonda, Madrid, España.
• Rev Clin Esp. 2022 Aug 1; 222 (7): 406-411.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused global changes that affect the daily life of the world's population, with a direct impact on individuals' physical and mental health as well as on their social and recreational habits.MethodsThis study aimed to retrospectively analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients attended to for acute poisoning in a hospital emergency department (ED) at three different periods of time: pre-pandemic (2019), after strict lockdown of the population in Spain (2020), and post-pandemic (2021). We analyzed 2 months (June and July) in each period.ResultsA total of 1,182 cases of acute poisoning were included. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, during lockdown, the number of patients with acute poisoning decreased (2019: 1.9% vs. 2020: 1.5%; p<.01); the ratio of men to women increased (2.0 vs. 1.4; p=.02); and the mean age of patients increased (2019: 31.4 vs. 2020: 41.3; p<.001), a trend which continued in 2021 (38.3). Poisoning with suicidal intention also increased during the pandemic (2019: 8.71% vs. 2020: 21.0%; p<.01) whereas poisonings with a recreational intention declined (2019: 76.1% vs. 2020: 62.0%; p<.01) with a non-significant increase in 2021 (69.0%, p=.07).ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic generated clinical and epidemiological changes in the acute poisonings attended to in a hospital emergency department during the various phases of the pandemic.© 2022 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.

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