Outcome of treatment in patients with methamphetamine poisoning in an Iranian tertiary care referral center

Methamphetamine is the second most widely abused drug worldwide. We performed a study on the treatment outcome of acute methamphetamine intoxication in a referral tertiary care University hospital in Iran.

In this hospital‑based, retrospective study which was carried out from 2012 to 2013, medical records of all patients aged 18 to 65 years who were admitted with a reliable history and clinical diagnosis of acute methamphetamine intoxication were abstracted and analyzed. Patients’ data included gender, age, type and route of poisoning, clinical manifestations, duration of hospitalization, and the treatment outcome. ANOVA, Chi‑square, and binary logistic regression statistical tests were used for data analysis.

A total of 129 patients with a mean age of 30.70 ± 0.93 (mean ± standard error), including 111 (86%) males, had been fully evaluated. Most of the patients had intentional poisoning (93.7%). In 42.6% of patients, inhalation was the main route of exposure. Most of the patients had complete improvement without any complication (89.1%). Age (odds ratio [OR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.006–1.099), suicide history (OR, 30.33; 95% CI 3.11–295.24), route of poisoning ([ingestion: OR, 0.21; 95% CI 0.05–0.87], [inhalation: OR, 0.19; 95% CI 0.04–0.78]), and pulmonary system manifestations (OR 1.84; 95% CI 1.15–2.93) were predictive in patients outcome (P < 0.05).

Methamphetamine poisoning was more common in males with intentional poisoning. Age, past history of suicide, route of poisoning, and pulmonary manifestations on admission could be considered as important predictive factors in patients’ outcome.