الفهرس 
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Abstract
Cardiotoxicity and cardiovascular health are areas of particular
interest due to the vital function of the heart and the vasculature in
maintaining the survival of the organism.
Poisoning is the leading cause of cardiac arrest in patients under 40
years of age and the second-leading cause of injury-related fatality
across all age groups in the US. Poisoning may lead indirectly to
hemodynamic changes secondary to the development of acidemia,
alkalemia, hypoxia or electrolyte abnormalities.
Drug overdose is a major and longstanding source of morbidity and
mortality throughout much of the world. There are numerous toxins
and drugs that can cause, in overdose, ECG changes, even in patients
without history of cardiac pathology. Cardiac dysrhythmia (also
known as arrhythmia) is a term for any of a large and heterogenous
group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in
the heart.
The aim of this work was to study ECG changes in cases of
poisoning by digoxin, theophylline and antidepressants overdoses that
were admitted to MPCC over 2011; sociodemographic factors (age,
sex, residence); clinical manifestations (symptoms and signs); and the
relation between ECG changes and each of ABG changes, electrolytes
changes and severity grades of the studied cases according to PSS.
The present study was carried out on cases admitted to MPCC
complaining of drug poisoning associated with ECG changes over one
year from 1st of January 2011 to 31st of December 2011.
The data were collected from a previously designed clinical
admission sheet (including the patient’s age, gender, history & clinical
assessment data) and from investigations results.
from the current study, the following can be concluded:
According to sex, it was found that females over numbered males
cases. The most affected age group was 20-<40 years, the least
affected one was above 40 years. Cases living in rural areas were more
frequent than those in urban areas.
The relation between sex and different age groups was significant.
Males comprised the majority of age group of < 5 years, while females
were higher in all age groups, the highest one was 20-<40 years.
The suicidal mode of poisoning comprised the highest frequency.
Age had a highly significant effect on mode of poisoning (suicidal and
accidental), where all cases under 10 years old had taken the overdose
accidentally , and all cases ≥ 10 years old had taken the dose
intentionally to commit suicide.
Regarding the patient complaint, the most studied cases sought
medical advice complaining of vomiting (58.4%), followed by
dizziness (28.6%) and abdominal pain (23.4%).
Upon examining the cases; disturbed consciousness level was
found in 9.1% of cases; 14.3% of cases were hypotensive, and more
than half of the studied cases suffered from tachycardia.
As regard severity grades of the studied cases according to PSS, it
was revealed that more than half of the cases were of minor grade,
followed by cases of moderate grade. ”None” grade cases of severity
score represented 14.3% and the least were severe cases representing
3.9%.