Pattern of Psychotropics’ Intoxication Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Study in Egypt

Aboubakr, Heba Mohamed; Barakat, Fatmaalzahraa Salama; Shokry, Dina Ali; Eid, heba Abdullah Mostafa; Abdel-Raof, Nada Elsayed

doi:10.21608/esctj.2025.392738.1093

	Pattern of Psychotropics’ Intoxication Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Study in Egypt
Egyptian Society of Clinical Toxicology Journal
Volume 13, Issue 1, June 2025, Page 199-208 PDF (686.22 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.21608/esctj.2025.392738.1093
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Authors
Heba Mohamed Aboubakr¹; Fatmaalzahraa Salama Barakat ²; Dina Ali Shokry¹; heba Abdullah Mostafa Eid ¹; Nada Elsayed Abdel-Raof¹
¹Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
²Forensic medicine and clinical toxicology, Faculty of Medicine,Cairo university, Egypt
Abstract
Background: Psychotropic drugs are significantly used in acute poisoning. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic influences health care facilities world-wide, including the cases of hospital admission due to toxic exposure. Aim of the work: The aim of this study was to identify the acute psychotropics intoxication pattern in patients presented to National Environmental and Clinical Toxicology and Research Center (NECTR), Egypt, prior to and throughout COVID 19 pandemic. Patients and methods: This comparative retrospective study included 623 cases who were admitted at NECTR during the period of the work which is 1 year (from February 2019 to January 2020) prior to pandemic and 1 year (from February 2022 to January 2023) during pandemic. Cases were analyzed regarding demographic data, history of psychiatric disorder and psychotropics medications, type of drug, manner of intoxication, drug accessibility, delay time of presentation, the severity of poisoning using poisoning severity score (PSS), admission status, duration of hospital stay and outcome. Results: Cases presented throughout the pandemic (n=286, 45.9%) were decreased in comparison to before the pandemic (n=337, 54.1%) with female predominance in both periods. There was an increase in the suicidal manner (97.2%), the acute toxicity with antipsychotics (64.7%), sedative hypnotics (5.9%) and anxiolytics (3.1%) during pandemic. The most common involved drugs during the two periods were non-prescribed (76.6%) in the form of antipsychotics followed by mood stabilizers. Conclusion: Severe and fatal poisoning severity score (PSS) were associated with antipsychotics class, early adulthood age group, males before pandemic and females during the pandemic period, non-prescribed psychotropic drugs, and ICU admission.
Keywords
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Intoxication; Psychotropics; Egypt; Poisoning Severity Score (PSS)


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