Acute methanol poisoning in Tunisia: clinical features, biological and associated factors for mortality

Acute Methanol Poisoning (MP) is rare but potentially serious.

To study the clinical and biological characteristics of acute MP and its associated factors of mortality.

We conducted a cross-sectional study including case series of MP which took place in Kairouan, Tunisia. Cases started consulting the emergency room on a festive day (1st day of Eid al- Fitr) corresponding to May 24, 2020.

We included 65 male victims of MP. The median [interquartile] age was 28.0 [21.0 - 35.0] years with extremes ranging from 17 to 75 years. The median [interquartile] time between the ingestion of methanol and the medical consultation was 48.0 [24.0 - 50.0] hours. On admission, the majority of patients described neurological (98.4%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (51.4%). Four patients remained visually impaired and 8 patients (12.3%) had died. The univariate analysis reported an association between mortality and age, amount of methanol ingested, co-ingestion of cannabis, delay to consultation, neurological distress, seizures, lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, metabolic acidosis, lower levels of potassium, higher levels of sodium, hematocrit, glycemia, creatinine, anion gap, and high Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score.

Mortality rate following MP was high and was associated with several factors.