Emergency Medicine International

Research Article

Clinical Effects of Activated Charcoal Unavailability on Treatment Outcomes for Oral Drug Poisoned Patients

Table 1

Patient characteristics.


	Charcoal-available period	Charcoal-unavailable period	p-value
	(n=413)	(n=221)

Age, median (IQR)	41 (28-58)	43	0.267
Male, n (%)	148 (35.8%)	77	0.803
Medical History
Hypertension, n (%)	72 (17.4%)	32 (14.5%)	0.339
Diabetes mellitus, n (%)	40 (9.7%)	19 (8.6%)	0.653
Multiple drug ingestion	242 (58.6%)	119 (53.8%)	0.250
Vital signs
Mean blood pressure (mmHg), median (IQR)	93 (79-103)	94 (77-107)	0.495
Heart rate (/min), median (IQR)	90 (79-100)	87 (76-103)	0.258
Respiratory rate (/min), median (IQR)	20 (18-20)	20 (18-20)	0.168
Body temperature (°C), median (IQR)	36.2 (36.0-36.6)	36.4 (36.0-36.7)	0.102
GCS, median (IQR)	14 (11-15)	14 (10-15)	0.971
Laboratory results
WBC (x10³/μℓ), median (IQR)	7.55 (5.76-10.19)	7.44 (5.96-9.82)	0.996
Hemoglobin (g/dℓ), median (IQR)	13.5 (12.6-14.6)	13.4 (12.2-14.6)	0.374
Platelet (1000/μℓ), median (IQR)	249 (205.5-299.5)	249 (202-298.5)	0.970
Sodium (mmol/ℓ), median (IQR)	139.1 (137.3-140.9)	138.6 (136.6-140.6)	0.046
Potassium (mmol/ℓ), median (IQR)	3.8 (3.54-4.12)	3.8 (3.50-4.00)	0.429
Total CO₂ (mmol/ℓ), median (IQR)	22.8 (20.90-26.26)	22.3 (20.15-26.50)	0.082
BUN (mg/dℓ), median (IQR)	12 (9-16)	13 (11-16)	0.167
Creatinine (mg/dℓ), median, (IQR)	0.74 (0.61-0.89)	0.74 (0.65-0.91)	0.242
AST (IU/ℓ), median, (IQR)	25 (19-37)	25 (19-28)	0.880
ALT (IU/ℓ), median, (IQR)	15 (10-25)	15 (10-29)	0.772
CRP (mg/dℓ), median, (IQR)	0.08 (0.03-0.24)	0.07 (0.02-0.26)	0.501
CK (IU/ℓ), median, (IQR)	97 (69-151)	96 (68-159)	0.838
CK-MB (ng/mL), median (IQR)	0.5 (0.5-1.1)	0.9 (0.6-2.1)	< 0.001
Troponin I (ng/mL), median (IQR)	0.04 (0.04-0.04)	0.02 (0.01-0.02)	< 0.001
aPTT (seconds), median (IQR)	25.9 (23.0-28.7)	27.2 (25.0-30.3)	< 0.001
PT (INR), median (IQR)	1.06 (1.01-1.11)	1.06 (1.01-1.12)	0.836
Gastric lavage, n (%)	109 (26.4%)	22 (10%)	< 0.001
Activated charcoal, use n (%)	141 (34.1%)	0 (0%)	< 0.001
SOFA score	6 (4-7)	5 (3-6)	0.153

GCS: Glasgow Coma Scale; WBC: white blood cells; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; AST: aspartate transaminase; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; CRP: C-reactive protein; CK: creatine kinase; CK-MB: creatine kinase-MB; aPTT: activated partial thromboplastin time; PT: prothrombin time; SOFA: sequential organ failure assessment.
Only for ICU patients.