Does mad honey poisoning require hospital admission?

The aim of this study was to describe current patterns of monitoring and treatment of mad honey intoxication to make recommendations for a more standardized approach to care of patients with mad honey poisoning.

Patients presenting to emergency departments because of honey poisoning between January and October 2007. Age, length of stay in the emergency department, pulse rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure are cited as mean +/- SD.

Forty-seven cases presenting to the 3 health institutions during 2007 were investigated. It was determined that patients had ingested "mad" honey between 0.5 and 9 hours (mean +/- SD, 2.8 +/- 1.8 hours) before presentation. Patients' pulse rates were 30 to 77/min (mean +/- SD, 46.6 +/- 12.1/min), and systolic blood pressure ranged from 50 to 140 mm Hg (mean +/- SD, 46.6 +/- 12.1 mm Hg). Patient rhythms on arrival were determined as 37 (7.7%) sinus bradycardia, 6 (12.8%) nodal rhythm, 3 (6.4%) normal sinus rhythm, and 1 (2.1%) complete atrioventricular block. Lengths of stay in hospital were 3.6 +/- 2.2 hours in the first university hospital, 22.2 +/- 3.8 hours in the second university hospital, and 3.4 +/- 1.7 hours in the state hospital. A 0.5 to 2 mg of atropine was given to all patients.

Our study did not reveal any difference in complications or mortality between patients cared for with brief emergency department observation when compared with patients cared for with 1 day inpatient observation.