Acute Intoxication

Investigation of cases of acute intoxication, admitted to the Department of Internal Medicine, Helsingborg Central Hospital, in 1951, 1961 and 1971 revealed that the number of cases had increased from 42 in 1951 to 230 in 1971, and that the frequency of cases per total number of inpatients at the Department had increased from 2.2% to 7.6% during the same time. Intoxication with more than one agent had become more common, as had the combination medical drug+alcohol. The duration of hospital care was roughly the same in 1951 and 1961 but shorter in 1971. The number of single intoxications was high, but a small group of patients had a very high frequency of recurrences.