Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2022; 12(03): 105-110
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1745843
Original Article

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department Presentations with Mushroom Poisoning: A Report from Turkey

Serdar Özdemir 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
,
İbrahim Altunok 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Abuzer Özkan 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Abdullah Algın 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Hatice Şeyma Akça 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Gökhan Aksel 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Serkan Emre Eroğlu 
1   Department of Emergency Medicine, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
› Further Information
   Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Background In this study, we investigated the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on emergency department admissions with mushroom poisoning in a tertiary hospital in Turkey.

Materials and Methods This study was conducted as a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the data of patients admitted to the emergency department between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2020. The patients diagnosed with the International Classification of Diseases-10 code T62.0 concerning the toxic effect of ingested mushrooms were identified through the computerized medical and laboratory record system of the hospital. The patients' demographic data, presentation seasons, laboratory findings, emergency department outcomes, and mortality due to mushroom poisoning were obtained. To reveal the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department presentations with mushroom poisoning, the means of the pre-pandemic period (2018–2019) and the pandemic period (2020) were compared.

Results The data of a total of 171 patients were included in the final analysis. The number of patients diagnosed with the toxic effect of ingested mushrooms was 96 in 2018, 61 in 2019, and 14 in 2020. There was a 5.6-fold decrease during pandemic period in the number of patients presenting to the emergency department with mushroom poisoning.

Conclusion The decrease in mushroom poisoning cases may be related to the changes in the eating habits of individuals during the pandemic and our study being conducted in a metropolitan city. We recommend that multicenter studies be performed to verify the data obtained from our study and increase their generalizability.

Keywords

mushroom poisoning - poisoning - coronavirus disease 2019 - toxic

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval with approval number 270 and date September 30, 2021 was obtained from the local ethics committee. We retrospectively reviewed secondary data recorded from the computer-based patient data system of the hospital, and these data did not include any personal identifiable information. Therefore, informed consent was waived.




Publication History

Article published online:
09 July 2022

© 2022. Avicenna Journal of Medicine. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India

 

  • References

  • 1 Ozdemir S, Kokulu K, Algin A, Akca HS. Demographic and clinical characteristics of applications to the emergency service with mushroom intoxication. Eurasian J Tox. 2019; 1 (02) 49-52
    Google Scholar
  • 2 Akkuzu MZ, Sezgin O, Yaraş S. et al. Mersin'de Yabani Mantar Zehirlenmeleri: Retrospektif bir Epidemiyolojik Çalışma ve Karaciğer Toksisitesinin İncelenmesi. Van Sag Bil Derg 2020; 13 (03) 10-14
    Google Scholar
  • 3 Eroglu SE, Aksel G, Altunok I. et al. Can Google® trends predict emergency department admissions in pandemic periods?. Med Sci (Turkey) 2021; 10 (01) 111-117
    CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Özdemir S. Patient with profound anemia due to hemorrhoids during the pandemic period. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 2021; 31 (Suppl. 03) s160
    Google Scholar
  • 5 Çıkrıkçı Işık G, Çevik Y. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on visits of an urban emergency department. Am J Emerg Med 2021; 42: 78-82
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Göksoy B, Akça MT, Inanç ÖF. The impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on emergency department visits of surgical patients. Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg 2020; 26 (05) 685-692
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Castagneto-Gissey L, Casella G, Russo MF. et al. Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on emergency surgery and emergency department admissions: an Italian level 2 emergency department experience. Br J Surg 2020; 107 (10) e374-e375
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Li H, Zhang H, Zhang Y. et al. Mushroom poisoning outbreaks - China, 2020. China CDC Wkly 2021; 3 (03) 41-45
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Lurie Y, Lewinsohn D, Kurnik D. An outbreak of mushroom poisoning in Israel during the 2020 fall and winter season: an unexpected outcome of COVID-19 restrictions?. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 2022; 60 (03) 386-388
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Özdemir S, Algın A. How will the health literacy and crowded emergency room be affected after the COVID-19 pandemic?. Phnx Med J. 2021; 3 (01) 50
    CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Litton MM, Beavers AW. The relationship between food security status and fruit and vegetable intake during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nutrients 2021; 13 (03) 712
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Herle M, Smith AD, Bu F, Steptoe A, Fancourt D. Trajectories of eating behavior during COVID-19 lockdown: longitudinal analyses of 22,374 adults. Clin Nutr ESPEN 2021; 42: 158-165
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Ozdemir S, Akça HŞ, Algın A, Kokulu K. Health literacy in the emergency department: a cross-sectional descriptive study. Eurasian J Emerg Med. 2020; 19 (02) 94-97
    CrossrefGoogle Scholar