Anticoagulant rodenticide intoxication in east China: a three-year analysis

Abstract

The study was designed to analyze the incidence and pattern of anticoagulant rodenticide intoxication in east China and to discuss strategies of diagnosis based on laboratory analysis experience. A total of 117 patients with anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning confirmed by toxicological analysis in east China were included in this study from 2011 to 2013. The mean concentration of anticoagulant rodenticide, age, and gender of these patients, as well as the mode and type of poisoning, were discussed. The age ranged from less than 1 to 80 years with the feeble preponderance of males (M = 53.0%, F = 47.0%). The 0-9 age group covered the largest ratio of these anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning patients. Accidental or voluntary ingestion seems to be the most common cause of intoxication, with still the poisoning cause being unknown for a large number of positive analyses. Bromadiolone was the most commonly observed anticoagulant rodenticide found in the biological samples, followed by brodifacoum. The concentrations of bromadiolone and brodifacoum that were detected in the first collected whole blood from each patient ranged from 1 to 878 ng/mL (mean 97.9 ng/mL) and from 0.5 to 1566 ng/mL (mean 225.1 ng/mL), respectively. The data analysis shows a high incidence of anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning without awareness of the poisoned subjects, clearly emphasizing the need for toxicological analysis in patients with vitamin K-dependent coagulation disorder and restriction on availability of anticoagulant rodenticide.

Keywords: Forensic science; anticoagulant rodenticides; brodifacoum; bromadiolone; forensic toxicology; intoxication; poisoning.

Figure 1.

Age distribution of anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning (N=117).

Figure 2.

Incidence of pesticide poisoning.