Risk of Seizures in Patients with Organophosphate Poisoning: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Chieh-Sen Chuang, Kai-Wei Yang, Chia-Ming Yen, Cheng-Li Lin and Chia-Hung Kao
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Chieh-Sen Chuang: Department of Neurology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua 50006, Taiwan
Kai-Wei Yang: Department of Emergency, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Chia-Ming Yen: Department of Anesthesiology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Cheng-Li Lin: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Chia-Hung Kao: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40447, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-9

Abstract: Objective: Previous research has demonstrated that patients with a history of organophosphate poisoning tend to have a higher risk of neurological disorder. However, research on the rate of seizure development in patients after organophosphate poisoning is lacking. This study examined whether individuals with organophosphate poisoning have an increased risk of seizures through several years of follow-up. Patients and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on a cohort of 45,060 individuals (9012 patients with a history of organophosphate poisoning and 36,048 controls) selected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The individuals were observed for a maximum of 12 years to determine the rate of new-onset seizure disorder. We selected a comparison cohort from the general population that was randomly frequency-matched by age, sex, and index year and further analyzed the risk of seizures using a Cox regression model adjusted for sex, age, and comorbidities. Results: During the study period, the risk of seizure development was 3.57 times greater in patients with organophosphate poisoning compared with individuals without, after adjustments for age, sex, and comorbidities. The absolute incidence of seizures was highest in individuals aged 20 to 34 years in both cohorts (adjusted hazard ratio = 13.0, 95% confidence interval = 5.40−31.4). A significantly higher seizure risk was also observed in patients with organophosphate poisoning and comorbidities other than cirrhosis. Conclusions: This nationwide retrospective cohort study demonstrates that seizure risk is significantly increased in patients with organophosphate poisoning compared with the general population.

Keywords: organophosphate poisoning; seizure disorder; retrospective cohort study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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