Clinico-epidemiological Characteristics of Corrosive Ingestion: A Cross-sectional Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital of Multan, South-Punjab Pakistan

Introduction Corrosive ingestion is a grave public health problem. It is a medical emergency and shows diverse clinical presentations. The ingestion of corrosive substances has devastating effects on upper gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts and the corrosive injury is associated with numerous life-threatening complications. The present study aims to explore the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of patients of corrosive ingestion presenting at a tertiary care hospital of Multan, Pakistan. Method The target study population consists of all the patients with primary diagnosis of corrosive ingestion who presented to the department of thoracic surgery, Nishtar Medical University Hospital Multan, Pakistan, from January 2016 to December 2017. The follow-up cases and the cases with ingestion of substances other than corrosives were not included in the study. All the included cases were evaluated by detailed history, thorough physical examination and the necessary investigations. The post-corrosive tissue damage was classified according to Zargar’s classification system. All the demographic data and other variables were measured and recorded using a Performa. The data were analyzed by using computer program SPSS 21 version. Results The total study population was 206 patients. There were 135 females (65.5%) and 71 male patients (34.5%). Age ranged from 2 to 42 years (mean 23.44 ± 7.19). Only seven cases were found in the age group of 2-7 years. The residents of rural areas showed a slightly increased inclination towards corrosive ingestion. One hundred and ten cases were unmarried (53.4%) while 90 patients were married (43.7%). The incidence of corrosive ingestion was much high in illiterate/less educated patients belonging to the groups of lower socio-economic status. One hundred and ninety-seven patients ingested corrosive substances deliberately with the suicidal intention (95.6%). The acid used as bathroom cleaner and the laundry bleaches were the most commonly used corrosive agents. In 166 cases the corrosive materials were already present at home for domestic purposes (80.6%), but 18 subjects particularly purchased these corrosive substances to commit suicide. The quantity of ingested material ranged between 10 ml and 150 ml with a mean of 42.6 ml ± 33.2. The shortest hospital stay was one day, and the longest one was 60 days. Esophagus and oropharyngeal area were the most common site which sustained the corrosive injury, whereas corrosive injury to duodenum was least frequent (34.5 %). Conclusion Corrosive ingestion is a serious medical problem and it requires a multidisciplinary approach and a good coordination between different medical specialists. Underprivileged teenager females of rural areas are more likely to ingest corrosive materials with suicidal intention. In most of the ingestions, household cleaning products are used. Only the patients with severe corrosive injury should be admitted to intensive care units. Enforcing regulations for the manufacturers of household cleaning products can significantly reduce the incidence of this potentially fatal condition.