Serum amylase as a prognostic marker of organophosphate poisoning

Background: organophosphate (op) insecticides are important compounds as the most probablecommon cause of acute poisonings in developing countries. op intoxication often presents asmedical emergencies, and its related morbidity and mortality have not decreased despite majoradvances in critical care. this study aims to determine the impact of serum amylase level forestimation of prognosis in patients with acute op poisoning.methods: this observational case-control study was done during two years on 332 consecutivepatients with acute op poisoning. clinical and demographic data, serum amylase level on earlyadmission time, morbidity, and outcome were determined. data were analyzed in the form of afrequency distribution table by using spss 11.0 version software.results: the mean age of patients with acute op poisoning was 28.9 ± 23.95 with slightlyfemale dominance. all patients were intoxicated via the gastrointestinal route. the mean amylaselevel of patients with deterioration of mental status, tachycardia, icu admission, and death wassignificantly higher.conclusion: among patients with op poisoning, higher serum amylase than normal was associatedwith severe clinical course and increased risk for mortality. determination of serum amylase canbe effective in the quick prediction of the outcome.