Emergency department visits for poisoning in Spanish patients aged 65 years or older: results of the EDENTOX…

Cohort studyMedicina clinica· Aug 2026

Emergency department visits for poisoning in Spanish patients aged 65 years or older: results of the EDENTOX study.

Òscar Miró, Montserrat Rodríguez-Cabrera, Dima Ibrahim-Achi … en representación de los investigadores de la red SIESTA Spanish Investigators in Emergency Situations TeAm

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Toxicology & PoisoningCohort studyQ3IF 1.2

Poisoning in older emergency department patients linked to higher odds of prolonged stay

Emergency department visits for poisoning in Spanish patients aged 65 years or older: results of the EDENTOX study.

Òscar Miró … en representación de los investigadores de la red SIESTA Spanish Investigators in Emergency Situations TeAm

Medicina clinica · Aug 2026 · Q3 in General Medicine

Purpose

To describe the characteristics of older patients presenting to emergency departments (emergency departments) with poisoning, as well as its incidence and associated adverse events.

Methods

All patients aged ≥65years attended over a one-week period in 52 Spanish emergency departments were included and classified according to whether the emergency departments diagnosis was poisoning.

n = 25,557 patients

Results

poisoning nearly triples the odds of a prolonged emergency departments stay

OR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

The annual incidence was estimated at 191 cases per 100,000 persons aged ≥65years (95%CI: 152-237), with no significant variation according to age.

Results were similar when analyzed by sex (incidence 186 [136-248] in women and 210 [148-289] in men; P=.58).

More results

Among poisoned older patients, hospital admission was required in 34.9%, in-hospital mortality was 4.8%, prolonged emergency departments stay (>12hours) among discharged patients occurred in 20.0%, and prolonged hospitalization (>7days) among admitted patients occurred in 58.6%.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Poisoning as a reason for emergency departments consultation in older patients is uncommon but occurs in individuals with greater chronic disease burden and is associated with an increased risk of certain adverse outcomes.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Epidemiologically, it should be considered a marker of clinical vulnerability.

Emergency department visits for poisoning in Spanish patients aged 65 years or older: results of the EDENTOX study.

Emergency department visits for poisoning in Spanish patients aged 65 years or older: results of the EDENTOX study.

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