Nature and sources of poisoning in patients admitted to a referral hospital in Gaborone, Botswana; findings and implications

Intentional poisoning is becoming an important public health concern particularly among young women globally. Consequently, there is a need to analyze this further within countries to establish pertinent policies to reduce current incidence rates. This includes sub-Saharan African countries where there has been a scarcity of information. Consequently, we sought to establish the nature and sources of poisoning in patients admitted to a leading hospital in Botswana to help develop pertinent future policies for Botswana and surrounding countries. Retrospectively reviewing the medical records of all patients admitted to Princess Marina Hospital (PMH), which is a leading tertiary hospital in the capital city of Botswana, due to acute poisoning over a six-year period. The records for 408 patients were reviewed. The majority of admissions (58%) were females, and the mean age of patients was 21(±14) years. Most poisoning cases (53%) were intentional. The 15–45 years age group was most likely to intentionally poison themselves compared to other age groups, with females four and half times more likely to intentionally poison themselves compared to males (AOR 4.53, 95% CI: 2.68–7.89, p The findings suggest in-depth and urgent investigations on intentional poisoning are needed among young women across countries including sub-Saharan African countries to inform future policies on prevention strategies. Further, strategies for poisoning prevention should target social and family relationship problems. We will be following this up in the future.

全球范围内，故意中毒已成为一项重要的公共卫生关切问题，在年轻女性群体中尤为凸显。为此，各国亟需开展进一步分析，以制定针对性政策降低当前的中毒发病率，这一需求在信息匮乏的撒哈拉以南非洲国家尤为迫切。
鉴于此，本研究旨在明确博茨瓦纳一家顶尖医院收治的急性中毒患者的中毒性质与中毒来源，以期为博茨瓦纳及周边国家制定未来相关防治政策提供参考依据。
本研究对博茨瓦纳首都的顶级三级医院——玛丽娜公主医院（Princess Marina Hospital, PMH）在六年周期内因急性中毒收治的所有患者的病历资料进行了回顾性分析，最终纳入408例患者的病历开展研究。
结果显示，多数入院患者（58%）为女性，患者平均年龄为21(±14)岁；其中大多数中毒病例（53%）为故意中毒。与其他年龄组相比，15~45岁年龄群体更易发生故意中毒；女性故意中毒的风险为男性的4.5倍（调整比值比（Adjusted Odds Ratio, AOR）4.53，95%置信区间（Confidence Interval, CI）2.68~7.89，p）。研究结果表明，包括撒哈拉以南非洲国家在内的全球年轻女性群体亟需开展针对故意中毒的深入且紧急的调查研究，以为未来中毒预防策略的制定提供政策依据。此外，中毒预防策略应聚焦社会与家庭关系问题。本团队后续将对此展开进一步跟进研究。