Chaitanya Mittal

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of pesticide, corrosive, drugs, venom and miscellaneous poisoning in India. SETTING: Systematic literature search was done in PubMed Central, Cochrane and Google Scholar databases for studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Systematic review and meta-analyses of all observational studies published in the English language from January 2010 to May 2020 were included in this review. PARTICIPANTS: Patients exposed to poisoning reported to hospitals were included. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence of pesticide poisoning was analysed. The prevalence of poisoning due to corrosives, venom, drugs and miscellaneous agents, along with subgroup analysis based on age and region, was also determined. The percentage of persons with poisoning along with 95% CI was analysed. RESULTS: Pooled analysis of studies revealed that pesticides were the main cause of poisoning in adults, with an incidence of 63% (95% CI 63% to 64%), while miscellaneous agents were the main cause of poisoning in children, with an incidence of 45.0% (95% CI 43.1% to 46.9%), among those presenting to hospitals. Pesticide poisoning was the most prevalent in North India (79.1%, 95% CI 78.4% to 79.9%), followed by South (65.9%, 95% CI 65.3% to 66.6%), Central (59.2%, 95% CI 57.9% to 60.4%), West (53.1%, 95% CI 51.9% to 54.2%), North East (46.9%, 95% CI 41.5% to 52.4%) and East (38.5%, 95% CI 37.3% to 39.7%). The second most common cause of poisoning was miscellaneous agents (18%, 95% CI 18% to 19%), followed by drugs (10%, 95% CI 10% to 10%), venoms (6%, 95% CI 6% to 6%) and corrosives (2%, 95% CI 1% to 2%). CONCLUSIONS: Pesticide poisoning is the most common type of poisoning in adults, while miscellaneous agents remain the main cause of poisoning in children. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020199427.

The study aimed to explore the effect of workplace spirituality on two dimensions of toxic work environments- incivility and ostracism in Indian public sector oil and gas companies. Six dimensions of workplace spirituality, namely Swadharma, Lokasangraha (Transcendence), Authenticity, Sense of community, Karma capital, and Gratitude, are explored here. The collected data is subjected to rigorous reliability, validity, multicollinearity, and common method bias tests. The association between six dimensions of workplace spirituality and two constructs of workplace toxicity is explored with the help of correlation and regression analysis. The study provides empirical evidence of a negative relationship between six Indian dimensions of workplace spirituality and two manifestations of workplace toxicity, i.e., incivility and ostracism in the workplace.

Penetrating abdominal injury is often a life-threatening condition, which is mainly associated with inflicted injuries. Fatal self-inflicted sharp force abdominal injuries too have been reported in the literature. Inadvertent penetrating abdominal injuries are a rarity and are caused by sharp objects of low-velocity and often nonmissile-type. A 27-year-old male factory worker was brought dead to the emergency department with an alleged history of sustaining abdominal injury by a sharp metal projectile while working on a metal cutting grinder. Autopsy observations were consistent with the history of inadvertent penetrating injury. Our case reports a fatal missile-type inadvertent sharp force trauma over the abdomen with intestinal perforation, a relatively uncommon scenario in occupational/workplace settings. The present case report describes the significance of the death scene visit and corroborating the medical findings with investigating agencies. This case further emphasizes on the need for adopting proper safety measures at the workplace.