|
Abstract
|
BACKGROUND: Management of acute poisoning depends on the reliability of history of the poisoning event.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to perform a meta-analysis from published data to determine summary measures of reliability of history in suspected acute poisoning.
METHOD: Relevant studies were selected from a search on the Medline database to perform a meta-analysis to calculate pooled estimates of κ statistic for agreement between history of poisoning and laboratory diagnosis.
RESULTS: A total of seven articles were included in the meta-analysis. The κ statistic varied from 0.35 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.135-0.558) for 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA, also known as ecstasy) to 0.69 (95% CI 0.648-0.733) for paracetamol.
CONCLUSIONS: A history of paracetamol ingestion is moderately reliable, and further evaluation is required to make a clinical diagnosis of acute poisoning with street drugs.
Language: en |