OBJECTIVE:
the study aims to characterize hospitalization among men with diagnoses of poisoning in a toxicology information and treatment center in the Brazilian state of Paraná.
METHODS:
Descriptive research, with a quantitative approach, on records in the Monthly Listing of Hospitalized Patients, in the period 2006 - 2010.
RESULTS:
2448 hospitalizations of men were analyzed, representing 60.9%. The men had a mean age of 36.5 years; 1610 (65.8%) were adults, and the majority (77.8%) were hospitalized with the diagnosis of poisoning by abuse drugs. Of the 505 (20.5%) hospitalizations resulting from individual accidents, 252 (49.9%) involved children. Suicide attempts were responsible for 440 (18.0%) hospitalizations, of which 110 (25.0%) occurred among adolescents. The mean length of hospitalization was five days, although 81 (3.3%) men occupied beds in intensive care, and 106 (4.3%) died.
CONCLUSION:
Due to the ratio of hospitalizations from poisoning among the sexes, one can infer greater seriousness in poisoning in men at all age ranges.
Men's health; Poisoning; Hospitalization