Dataset Information

Epidemiology and risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia: a retrospective analysis by the National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:Pesticide poisoning is a global health problem, and its progressive deterioration is a major cause of concern. The objective of this study is to assess epidemiological characteristics and identify risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia. SETTING:Pesticide poisoning database of Malaysia National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015. PARTICIPANTS:Telephone enquiries regarding pesticide poisoning were made by healthcare professionals. Information received by the NPC was entered into a retrievable database of standardised Poison Case Report Form, as adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO). OUTCOMES:The outcome of the study is to provide an overview of national epidemiological profile of pesticide poisoning. High-risk groups of people and their circumstances were also identified to ensure that appropriate measures are strategised. RESULTS:Within the study period, a total of 11?087 pesticide poisoning cases were recorded. Sixty per cent of these cases were intentional in nature and most were found among male individuals (57%) of the Indian race (36.4%) aged between 20 and 29 years (25.5%), which occurred at home (90%) through the route of ingestion (94%). The highest number of poisoning was due to herbicides (44%) followed by agricultural insecticides (34%), rodenticides (9.9%), household insecticides (9.5%) and fungicides (0.5%). In addition, 93.6% of intentional pesticide poisoning cases were caused by suicide attempts. The results of this study show that there was an increasing trend in pesticide poisoning incidents over the 10-year duration. This indicates that pesticide poisoning is a prevalent public health problem in Malaysia, resulting in an average incidence rate of 3.8 per 100?000 population. CONCLUSIONS:Deliberate pesticide ingestion as a method of suicide has become a disturbing trend among Malaysians. Therefore, regulation of highly hazardous pesticides must be enforced to ensure controlled and limited access to these chemicals by the public.

SUBMITTER: Kamaruzaman NA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7265005 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Epidemiology and risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia: a retrospective analysis by the National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.

Kamaruzaman Nur Azzalia NA Leong Yin-Hui YH Jaafar Mohd Hafiidz MH Mohamed Khan Halilol Rahman HR Abdul Rani Noor Afiza NA Razali Mohd Fadhli MF Abdul Majid Mohamed Isa MI

BMJ open 20200601 6

<h4>Objective</h4>Pesticide poisoning is a global health problem, and its progressive deterioration is a major cause of concern. The objective of this study is to assess epidemiological characteristics and identify risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia.<h4>Setting</h4>Pesticide poisoning database of Malaysia National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.<h4>Participants</h4>Telephone enquiries regarding pesticide poisoning were made by healthcare professionals. Information received by ...[more]

PMID: 32487578

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Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that pesticide bans were associated with reduced fatal pesticide self-poisoning cases in high, and low-and-middle-income countries. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of pesticide poisoning patients admitted to two Malaysian hospitals and the early impact of the national paraquat ban implemented on 1st January 2020 in a culturally heterogenous South-East-Asian upper-middle-income setting.MethodsData were collected from an East (Bintulu) and a West (Ipoh) Malaysian hospital medical records in 2015-2021 and 2018-2021, respectively. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the association of aspects such as socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, paraquat ban with the types of pesticides involved (paraquat versus non-paraquat versus unknown) ,and the outcomes (fatal versus non-fatal).ResultsFrom the study sample of 212 pesticide poisoning patients aged 15 years or above, the majority were self-poisoning cases (75.5%) with a disproportionate over-representation of Indian ethnic minority (44.8%). Most pesticide poisoning cases had socio-environmental stressors (62.30%). The commonest stressors were domestic interpersonal conflicts (61.36%). 42.15% of pesticide poisoning survivors had a psychiatric diagnosis. Paraquat poisoning accounted for 31.6% of all patients and 66.7% of fatalities. Case fatality was positively associated with male gender, current suicidal intent, and paraquat poisoning. After the paraquat ban, the proportion of pesticide poisoning cases using paraquat decreased from 35.8 to 24.0%, and the overall case-fatality dropped slightly from 21.2 to 17.3%.ConclusionsSocio-environmental stressors in specific domestic interpersonal conflicts, seemed more prominent in pesticide poisoning compared to psychiatric diagnosis. Paraquat accounted for the majority of pesticide-associated deaths occurring in hospitals in the study areas. There was preliminary evidence that the 2020 paraquat ban led to a fall in case fatality from pesticide poisoning.

Dataset Information

Epidemiology and risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia: a retrospective analysis by the National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.

Publications

Epidemiology and risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia: a retrospective analysis by the National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.

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