Acute poisoning among patients attended to in an emergency department: From the pre-pandemic period to the new normality

Abstract

Background: The 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. Methods: This 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. Results: A 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