DATA HARMONIZATION: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TWO POISON CENTRES IN LATIN AMERICA USING CITUC-SRL® DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE.

Resumo

BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a poison center is a specialized unit that advises and supports the prevention, diagnosis, and management of poisonings. Electronic record systems availability enhances data storage, management, and analysis. In 2024, CIAT-Uruguay implemented the CITUC SRL® system, developed and used by CITUC-Chile since 2018. Harmonizing data collection across centers enables comparative analysis.
OBJECTIVE: To perform a comparative analysis of the report profiles received by CIAT-Uruguay and CITUC-Chile in 2024.
METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study using data extracted from the CITUC SRL® database, where reports from both centers are registered. Variables analyzed included caller identity, patient demographics (age group and sex), exposure circumstances, and involved agents. RESULTS: Uruguay reported 13,455 cases and Chile 35,386, with incidence rates of 390.7 and 177.3 per 100,000 inhabitants and a relative risk of 2.2 [95% CI 2.16–2.24] times in Uruguay compared to Chile. Most callers were healthcare professionals-physicians (85.9% Uruguay; 70.8% Chile) calling from medical facilities (89.4% Uruguay; 76.2% Chile). The leading exposure circumstances were suicide attempts (46.1% Uruguay; 48.2% Chile), followed by accidental exposures (28.4% Uruguay; 35.2% Chile). Female patients predominated in both countries (58.4% Uruguay; 62.1% Chile). Adults aged ≥18 to <65 years were the most affected group (60.7% Uruguay; 46.4% Chile), followed by adolescents aged ≥12 to <18 years (10.4% Uruguay; 17.8% Chile). Clonazepam and quetiapine were the most frequently reported agents in both centers. In Uruguay, 60.3% of cases involved doses above toxic thresholds, compared to 48.5% in Chile.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite CITUC-Chile reporting more than double the total number of cases, CIAT-Uruguay reported a 2.2-fold higher incidence rate per 100,000 population than Chile in the same period, and a bigger percentage of these cases reached toxic ranges: 60.3% in comparison to Chile with 47.6%. Nevertheless, both centers showed similar exposure profiles, dominated by cases involving suicide attempts, medical professionals as primary callers, and frequent involvement of clonazepam and quetiapine. Harmonized, high-quality data systems facilitate multicenter studies across regions.