Validity of referral hospitals for the toxicovigilance of acute poisoning in Sri Lanka
L Senarathna, NA Buckley, SF Jayamanna, PJ Kelly, MJ Dibley & AH Dawson
Volume 90, Number 6, June 2012, 436-443A
Table 2. “True” acute poisoning admissions and number of admissions that would be obtained with three possible hospital admission data sets, by age, sex and poisoning type, Anuradhapura district, Sri Lanka, September 2008 to January 2010
| Group | “True” total admissionsa |
All admissions to primary hospitals onlyb |
All admissions to referral hospital onlyc |
All admissionsd |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % (95% CI) | Proportions ratio | No. | % (95% CI) | Proportions ratio | No. | % (95% CI) | Proportions ratio | ||||||||||
| Males (by age in years)e | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 12–14 | 36 | 2 | 27 | 1.8 (1.2–2.6) | 0.91 | 30 | 2 (1.4–2.9) | 1.05 | 57 | 1.9 (1.4–2.5) | 0.98 | |||||||||
| 15–19 | 282 | 15.3 | 231 | 15.2 (13.4–17.1) | 1.00 | 220 | 15 (13.2–16.9) | 0.98 | 451 | 15.1 (13.8–16.4) | 0.99 | |||||||||
| 20–29 | 626 | 33.9 | 511 | 33.6 (31.2–36.1) | 0.99 | 507 | 34.5 (32.1–37.0) | 1.02 | 1018 | 34.1 (32.4–35.8) | 1.00 | |||||||||
| 30–39 | 357 | 19.3 | 292 | 19.2 17.3–21.3) | 1.00 | 288 | 19.6 (17.6–21.7) | 1.02 | 580 | 19.4 (18.0–20.9) | 1.01 | |||||||||
| 40–49 | 306 | 16.6 | 254 | 16.7 (14.9–18.7) | 1.01 | 246 | 16.7 (14.9–18.8) | 1.01 | 500 | 16.7 (15.4–18.1) | 1.01 | |||||||||
| 50–59 | 169 | 9.1 | 145 | 9.5 (8.1–11.1) | 1.05 | 124 | 8.4 (7.1–10.0) | 0.93 | 269 | 9 (8.0–10.1) | 0.99 | |||||||||
| ≥ 60 | 73 | 4.0 | 60 | 3.9 (3.0–5.1) | 0.99 | 54 | 3.7 (2.8–4.8) | 0.92 | 114 | 3.8 (3.2–4.6) | 0.95 | |||||||||
| Total | 1849 | 48.8 | 1520 | 49.2 (47.4–51.0) | 1.01 | 1469 | 49.1 (47.3–51.0) | 1.01 | 2989 | 49.3 (48.0–50.6) | 1.01 | |||||||||
| Females (by age in years)e | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 12–14 | 84 | 4.3 | 70 | 4.5 (3.5–5.6) | 1.03 | 64 | 4.1 (3.2–5.3) | 0.95 | 134 | 4.3 (3.6–5.1) | 0.99 | |||||||||
| 15–19 | 698 | 35.9 | 580 | 37 (34.6–39.4) | 1.03 | 520 | 34.6 (32.1–37.0) | 0.96 | 1100 | 35.8 (34.1–37.5) | 1.00 | |||||||||
| 20–29 | 738 | 38 | 570 | 36.3 (33.9–38.8) | 0.96 | 591 | 39.3 (36.8–41.8) | 1.03 | 1161 | 37.8 (36.0–39.5) | 0.99 | |||||||||
| 30–39 | 250 | 12.9 | 197 | 12.6 (11.0–14.3) | 0.98 | 208 | 13.8 (12.1–15.7) | 1.07 | 405 | 13.2 (12.0–14.4) | 1.02 | |||||||||
| 40–49 | 110 | 5.7 | 97 | 6.2 (5.0–7.5) | 1.09 | 79 | 5.2 (4.2–6.5) | 0.93 | 176 | 5.7 (4.9–6.6) | 1.01 | |||||||||
| 50–59 | 41 | 2.1 | 37 | 2.4 (1.7–3.2) | 1.12 | 28 | 1.9 (1.2–2.7) | 0.88 | 65 | 2.1 (1.6–2.7) | 1.00 | |||||||||
| ≥ 60 | 22 | 1.1 | 19 | 1.2 (0.7–1.9) | 1.07 | 17 | 1.1 (0.7–1.8) | 1.00 | 36 | 1.2 (0.8–1.6) | 1.03 | |||||||||
| Total | 1943 | 51.2 | 1570 | 50.8 (49.0–52.6) | 0.99 | 1507 | 50.4 (48.5–52.2) | 0.98 | 3075 | 50.7 (49.4–52.0) | 0.99 | |||||||||
| Poisoning type | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Organophosphates and carbamate | 706 | 18.5 | 603 | 19.4 (18.0–20.8) | 1.05 | 601 | 20.1 (18.7–21.6) | 1.09 | 1204 | 19.7 (18.7–20.8) | 1.07 | |||||||||
| Paraquat | 77 | 2.0 | 55 | 1.8 (1.3–2.3) | 0.88 | 71 | 2.4 (1.9–3.0) | 1.18 | 126 | 2.1 (1.7–2.5) | 1.02 | |||||||||
| Other pesticide | 790 | 20.7 | 694 | 22.3 (20.9–23.8) | 1.08 | 621 | 20.8 (19.3–22.3) | 1.00 | 1315 | 21.6 (20.5–22.6) | 1.04 | |||||||||
| Medicine overdose | 789 | 20.7 | 561 | 18 (16.7–19.4) | 1.15 | 627 | 21.0 (19.5–22.5) | 1.01 | 1188 | 19.5 (18.5–20.5) | 0.94 | |||||||||
| Oleander | 393 | 10.3 | 299 | 9.6 (8.6–10.7) | 1.07 | 363 | 12.1 (11.9–13.4) | 1.18 | 662 | 10.9 (10.1–11.7) | 1.05 | |||||||||
| Other | 1058 | 27.7 | 899 | 28.9 (27.3–30.5) | 1.04 | 706 | 23.6 (22.1–25.2) | 0.85 | 1605 | 26.3 (25.2– 27.4) | 0.95 | |||||||||
| Total | 3813 | 100.0 | 3111 | 100 | – | 2989 | 100 | – | 6100 | 100 | – | |||||||||
CI, confidence interval.
a Sum of all direct acute poisoning admissions to the district’s primary hospitals and its referral hospital (i.e. all admissions minus transfers).
b All admissions to primary hospitals (all are direct admissions, not referrals).
c All admissions (both direct and transfers) to the referral hospital.
d Raw total of all admissions to all hospitals in the district (routine method used for government statistics, which double counts patients transferred to referral hospitals).
e No age was recorded for 21 patients (includes males and females).