Table 4

Distribution of toxic agent over 5 years

Toxic agent category	2012		2013		2014		2015		2016		Total
Toxic agent category	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	Total (%)
Therapeutic drugs	303	100.0	394	100.0	326	100.0	310	100.0	304	100.0	1637	100.0	32.6
Sedatives and hypnotics	101	33.3	141	35.8	79	24.2	68	21.9	82	27.0	471	28.8	9.4
Analgesics	50	16.5	67	17.0	62	19.0	53	17.1	39	12.8	271*	16.6	5.4
Mixed drugs	42	13.9	63	16.0	53	16.3	52	16.8	59	19.4	269	16.4	5.4
Cold and cough medicines	31	10.2	26	6.6	37	11.4	42	13.6	27	8.9	163	10.0	3.2
Psychotropics	16	5.3	23	5.8	23	7.1	27	8.7	36	11.8	125	7.6	2.5
Cardiovascular drugs	15	5.0	27	6.9	22	6.8	26	8.4	22	7.2	112	6.8	2.2
Other drugs	16	5.3	21	5.3	24	7.4	20	6.5	15	4.9	96	5.9	1.9
Antimicrobials	19	6.3	12	3.1	15	4.6	8	2.6	11	3.6	65	4.0	1.3
Traditional Chinese medicine	13	4.3	14	3.6	11	3.4	14	4.5	13	4.3	65	4.0	1.3
Pesticides	241	100.0	280	100.0	308	100.0	272	100.0	248	100.0	1349	100.0	26.9
Paraquat	97	40.2	134	47.9	149	48.4	141	51.8	123	49.6	644	47.7	12.8
Rodenticide	50	20.7	55	19.6	60	19.5	49	18.0	45	18.2	259	19.2	5.2
Organophosphate	56	23.2	44	15.7	48	15.6	46	16.9	38	15.3	232	17.2	4.6
Other	24	10.0	33	11.8	42	13.6	28	10.3	33	13.3	160	11.9	3.2
Unknown	14	5.8	14	5.0	9	2.9	8	2.9	9	3.6	54	4.0	1.1
Alcohol	203		227		226		182		201		1039		20.7
Fumes/gases/vapours	70		144		103		119		136		572		11.4
Chemicals	25		47		46		32		31		181		3.6
Food	20		9		15		35		9		88		1.8
Other substance	8		11		7		10		14		50		1.0
Unknown	22		24		17		19		20		102		2.0
Subtotal	892		1136		1048		979		963		5018†		100.0

*Including 13 cases of opioids poisoning.
†Nine cases were calculated tautologically, of which seven cases had a combination of alcohol poisoning and other drugs poisoning, and two cases had a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and other drugs poisoning.