Descriptive study of hospital care on toxicological events in a municipality of São Paulo State, Brazil, 2012^*

OBJECTIVE:  to describe the epidemiological profile of hospital care on chemical exposure cases and accidents with venomous animals performed in a municipal hospital in São Paulo State, Brazil.

METHODS:  case series descriptive study with data of medical records from the emergency department of the Municipal Hospital of Itapira-SP, in 2012.

RESULTS:  out of 3,184 medical cases due to toxicological events (3.3% of total), the exposures to drugs of abuse (58.1%) and accidents with venomous animals (15.8%) stood out; most individuals were male (68.6%), in the age group from 20 to 59 years (74.6%); according to the medical records, 18 cases had been reported to the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (Sinan), however 249 cases were found on Sinan online.

CONCLUSION:  the health care profile was characterized by the predominance of exposure to drugs of abuse and accidents with venomous animals in a young adult population; most cases was not notified to Sinan, which may lead to an insufficient acknowledgement on this problem.

Keywords:
Poisoning; Substance-Related Disorders; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Emergency; Medical Service; Descriptive Epidemiology