Mushroom Poisoning At An Emergency Department From Middle Anatolia: 168 Cases From 4 Years

Aim: To evaluate differences between cultivated and wild mushroom poisoning in terms of clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and complications. we also aimed to determine the differences among patients in regard to presence of complications.
Materials-Methods: We evaluated adults who were diagnosed with mushroom poisoning in a 4-year period between 2014 and 2017. The following characteristics of patients were recorded: age, sex, complaints, time until hospital admittance, time until symptom onset, mushroom source, any interventions until patient arrived to the hospital, laboratory findings, complications, length of stay (LoS) at hospital, and patient discharge status.
Results: A total of 168 patients were enrolled in the study, of which 111 were poisoned by wild mushrooms and 57 were poisoned by cultivated mushrooms. Cultivated mushrooms were more frequently the cause of poisoning in patients who lived in metropolitan and urban areas. Patients who consumed wild mushrooms had higher troponin levels, lower base excess values and longer LoS at hospital.
Conclusions: Studies on MP usually evaluate patients according to mushroom type and onset/severity of complications. We evaluated patients in terms of the source of mushroom (wild/cultivated) and the presence of complications, which is a different approach. We aimed to identify the differences between cultivated and wild MP; however, we ended up finding that these conditions are mostly similar in terms of clinical characteristics, laboratory findings and complications. We also believe that the identification of complications and their severity is an important determinant of their effects on prognosis.