Abstract

Introduction: Background: Agriculture is one of the main source of income in rural India. Recent times have seen a lot of advancements in the chemicals used for pest control to improve the quality of crops. However, the ease of availability and the high toxicity of these chemicals has led to accidental as well as deliberate casualties due to poisoning. Material and Methods:A retrospective study was conducted at VIMS Bellary between the years 2016 to 2020 by collecting data from the postmortem reports of deaths due to organophosphorus poisoning. The sample size of the present study constituted 725 poisoning cases.Information about the age and sex of the victims , the type of poison, chemical examiners report occupation, socio- economic and marital status were collected from the inquest reports furnished by the Investigating authorities. Results: In the present study it was found that the mortality was more in males compared to females and majority of cases was found in people involved in agricultural profession in rural areas under low income group. Conclusion: The study concludes that organophosphorus poisoning is more common in rural India with lower socioeconomic status.

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