AbstractBackground: Acute poisoning is an important medical emergency presenting to the emergency departments. This study was mainly
undertaken to study the clinico epidemiological characteristics and pattern of poisoning in a tertiary care setting. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in medical records department of Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital, Chitradurga in 548 patients of poisoning. The patients were studied in detail with respect to age, sex, occupation, time of presentation, nature of poisoning, GCS and outcome. Results: Majority of the study subjects in this study were young male farmers. The time of presentation was more than 2 hours in more than half of the patients, the GCS was low and around 70% of accidental and intentional poisoning cases survived. Organophosphorous compounds and sedatives were the common poisons in both accidental and intentional poisonings. Conclusion: This study provides an insight of clinico epidemiological knowledge to the emergency physicians about the nature of poisons and presentation to the emergency medicine departments.