“Characterization of acute pesticide poisoning in the Department of Intibucá”

Abstract

Background. Pesticide use has increased from the 40’s with the introduction of chemically synthesized substances. The use of this goes hand in hand with the steady growth of the agricultural economy. The irst pesticide used were organochlorine, in the 50’s were replaced by organophosphates, nowadays there is a variety of chemicals with different degrees of toxicity. Goal. Characterize the reported cases of pesticide poisoning at the local Hospital “Enrique Aguilar Cerrato” in the Department of Intibucá. Material and methods. Records of 232 patients reported as acute pesticide poisoning treated at the emergency of the hospital in a period from January 2010 to December 2014 were reviewed. Demographic, clinical and laboratory variables were obtained using data collection and analytical and descriptive statistics was applied. Results. In the population studied male sex prevailed 187 cases (81%) and the average age was 26 years, being the farmer population the most affected (68%). The most common mode was intentional poisoning (74%) and bipyridyls (33%) and organophosphates (30%) were the most frequently associated pesticides. Discusion. Acute pesticide poisoning in Intibucá are more frequent in male literate farmers and being suicide attempt the main cause of them. It was evident that there is almost an equal share between the use of pesticides from the bipyridyls family and organophates, ranking irst and second place respectively. There were no deaths reported.