Changes in Hospital Admissions due to Toxic Effects of Alcohols (T51 ICD-10) in the Lower Silesia Region of Poland in the Years 2006-2012 Significant for Emergency Medicine, Medical Intensive Care and Anesthesia
Robert Suslo1, Piotr Hańczyc2, Jaroslaw Drobnik1
Copyright : © 2016 Robert S. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
1.Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results and Discussion
Over the years 2006-2012 the population of the Lower Silesia region of Poland, did not change significantly in amount or age structure, although some effects of population ageing were observed [14]. In the year 2014 in the Lower Silesia region there were living 2,9 million people, 48% of them males [15].
The study allowed to gather the information on hospital admissions in the Lower Silesia region of Poland reported as being due to “intoxication with alcohol” (T51 according to ICD-10), without further specification as to characteristics of the substance, as it is shown in Figure 1. During the 7 years long time the amount of those admissions increased by 78,2% of its initial value.
The intoxications with ethanol (T51.0 according to ICD-10) were the major specific cause of hospital admissions in the analyzed group and a significant increase of their amount was observed - by 77,9% of its initial value.
Methanol intoxication related hospital admissions (T51.1 according to ICD-10) were far less numerous than in case of ethanol, but their amount increased in the analyzed period by 61,1% of its initial value.
Hospital admissions caused by isopropyl alcohol intoxications (T51.2 according to ICD-10) were very rare in the beginning of the analyzed period, but their incidence increased rapidly - over four times - in the year 2009 and later dropped only slightly.
Toxic effects of fuse oil, including amyl, butyl and propyl alcohol (T51.3 according to ICD-10) among the causes of admissions to hospital were incidental in the analyzed period, showing slight raising trend.
The amount of hospital admissions caused by intoxications with alcohols other than ethanol, methanol, isopropyl alcohol and fuse oil (T51.8 according to ICD-10) was changing irregularly in the analyzed years.
The amount of patients admitted to Lower Silesia region of Poland because of toxic effects of unspecified alcohols (T51.9 according to ICD-10) doubled in the years 2006-2012.
4. Conclusion
The amount of hospital admissions in the Lower Silesia region of Poland in the years 2006-2012 because of toxic effects of alcohols increased significantly - and it was the effect of regular increase in the consecutive years that suggests a negative direction of alcohol consumption habits evolution.
The high dynamics of raise in hospital admissions because of alcohol intoxications in total was resulting mainly from the rapid increase in both ethanol and unspecified alcohols intoxications cases. The significant amount of intoxications in which the causing alcohol was not identified suggests that the availability of basic toxicology screening tests may be not adequate in all Lower Silesia region of Poland hospitals.
Important problem for medical care, especially intensive care units, and public health of the Lower Silesia region of Poland is associated with raising amount of life-threatening intoxications with alcohols contained in industrial-use fluids that are not designed to be consumed by humans - especially methanol and isopropyl alcohol - or in illegally distilled alcohol beverages, including fusel oil.
Being aware of the up to date statistics of various alcohol intoxications incidence allows both clinically active physicians - including emergency departments, intensive care stations staff, anesthesiologists - and forensic medicine specialists to choose the first aid methods when applicable and to adjust the scope of primary tests applied, limiting the average costs of establishing the diagnosis as well as shortening the time needed for that.
5.Acknowledgments
The authors thank the NFZ for allowing them the access to the publication-relevant data.
References