Sir,
We acknowledge the comments and observations received. The aim of this hospital-based study was to assess the pattern of poisoning in the Udhagamandalam region, Tamil Nadu, India. Please let us clarify the following.
There are two other hospitals located in the Nilgiri district, which are at a considerable distance from Udhagamandalam town. So, it is improbable that patients from Udhagamandalam will visit the said hospitals or that the staff of the said hospitals will visit the patients in Udhagamandalam. Being a hill station, the chances of cases of acute poisoning from other districts getting admitted in the study hospital are remote. Our study aims to analyze the poisoning cases in Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu, India.
We aimed at finding the association of the manner of poisoning, age, and gender of the patients with fatality. The age-wise breakup based on the manner and gender was not included because the overall percentage would not change as this data included the population of children too. However, the overall age-wise breakup and its association with fatality was included in the study.
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From our study analysis, a higher fatality was observed with accidental poisoning. It would have been better had the definition of preventable poisoning been included in the article. The number of accidental poisoning cases can be reduced by adopting the following methods.[1,2]
- Reducing the accessibility of hazardous agrochemicals to the public.
- Counseling farmers on the use of the necessary protective measures while handling agrochemicals.
- Keeping all hazardous materials out of the reach of children as they are more prone to be victims of accidental poisoning.
Psychological guidance programs are known to decrease depression levels by developing personal skills including self-esteem and problem-solving capacity.[3] In fact, such programs at present are unavailable from the study sites; we insist on such programs for individuals alone. The authors did not intend psychological guidance for mass intervention.
The authors put in their best efforts to record poisoning cases at this study site so that underreporting did not occur. Hence, this was not mentioned as a limitation.
A prospective study focusing on the socio-economic status of patients might be undertaken as self-poisoning has multiple personal, social, and economic facets. Currently, we are conducting a prospective study in a similar manner.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References
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