From June 2022 to May 2023, 5,997 poisoned patients visited 15 emergency medical centers in 14 cities and provinces nationwide. More than half of them were addicted to therapeutic drugs.
On Wednesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) released the results of its in-depth survey on emergency room-based poisoning situations.
According to the National Health Insurance Statistics Annals, the number of addiction cases caused by exposure to toxic substances, such as chemicals, drugs, and natural poisons, in Korea was around 100,000 per year. Medical expenses have also increased yearly for the past 10 years, reaching 57.81 billion won ($43.14 million) in 2021.
KDCA has conducted an in-depth survey on additional patients visiting emergency rooms since June 2022 to produce evidence necessary for establishing health policies related to poisoning caused by exposure to toxic substances.
The yearly report resulted from the first one-year survey conducted from June 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023. According to the survey results, 5,997 poisoning cases occurred at 15 emergency medical institutions in 14 cities and provinces during the period.
More than half of the patients, or 56.2 percent, were women; the share of intentional addiction was high at 67.2 percent. The most vulnerable age group was 20s, with 19.0 percent, 14.5 percent for over 70, 14.4 percent for those in their 40s, and 14.0 percent for 50-somethings.
They were most commonly exposed to therapeutic drugs (51.5 percent), followed by gases (13.7 percent) and artificial toxins (11.9 percent).
Therapeutic drugs accounted for the highest proportion of exposures across all age groups, with 80 percent of teenagers poisoned by them. The most frequently poisoned substances among teens were acetaminophen-based fever reducers, with 21.1 percent, followed by benzodiazepine-based neuroleptics, with 19.2 percent.
Among children under 10, 30.5 percent of poisonings were caused by man-made toxic substances, all unintentional poisonings, and are often accidentally exposed to household chemicals, such as cosmetics and laxatives.
Depending on the intention of poisoning, the most frequently exposed substances also differed, with benzodiazepine sedatives, psychotropic drugs, and sleeping pills accounting for 20.9 percent of intentional poisonings. They were followed by zolpidem at 10.9 percent and carbon monoxide at 9.2 percent.
Among unintentional poisonings, carbon monoxide took the largest share, with 19.3 percent, followed by bee stings at 18.5 percent and other and unidentified animal bites and stings at 7.8 percent.
Regarding location, 73.5 percent of poisonings occurred at home. In exposure type, oral exposure was most frequent at 70.2 percent, followed by inhalation at 14.2 percent and bites and stings at 9.3 percent. Among the poisoning cases, there were 102 deaths, representing 1.7 percent of the total 5,997 cases.
"We hope that the in-depth emergency room-based poisoning survey results will serve as an important basis for developing policies by relevant ministries to prevent and manage poisoning," KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said.