• Pere Llorens, Álvaro Lirón-García, Miriam Santos-Redondo, Juan Marín-Aparicio, Begoña Espinosa, Elena Martínez, Pablo Chico-Sánchez, Rosario Sánchez, and José-Manuel Ramos-Rincón.
• Servicio de Urgencias, Corta Estancia y Hospitalización a Domicilio, Hospital General Dr. Balmis, Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), España. Departamento de Medicina Clínica, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Alicante, España.
• Emergencias. 2024 Apr 1; 36 (2): 9710397-103.

ObjectivesTo study differences in the emergency department treatment of acute poisoning according to biological sex of patients and to assess adherence to care quality indicators.Material And MethodsRetrospective observational study including all cases of acute poisoning diagnosed in patients over the age of 14 years treated in a tertiary care hospital emergency department over a period of 4 years. We analyzed demographic variables, substance type and reason for acute poisoning, degree of adherence to quality indicators, and discharge destination.ResultsA total of 1144 cases were included; 710 patients (62.1%) were female and 434 (37.9%) were male. The proportion of deliberate self-poisoning was higher in females (52.3% vs 41.4% in males; P .001); unintentional poisoning was less frequent in females (in 24.9% vs in 30.3% of males; P = .047). Benzodiazepine poisoning was more frequent in females (in 49.6% vs 41.2%; P = .007). Street drug and alcohol poisoning was less common in females. Adherence to quality indicators was high (> 85%) for both sexes.ConclusionThe epidemiologic profile of poisoning is different in females and males. General emergency department adherence to quality indicators can be considered optimal. We detected no qualitative sex-related differences in the care of patients with acute poisoning.

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