Medicina de Emergência: Acesso Aberto
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Study about Relation Between Carboxy Hemoglobin Levels in the Patient with Headache in the Cold Season

Hassan Amiri, Samad Shams Vahdati, Sevil Ghaffarzadeh, Niloofar Ghodrati, Payam Raoufi and Paria Habibollahi

Introduction: Toxicity and accidental exposure to carbon monoxide is one of most important causes of mortality in developing countries. Clinical symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are often and cause misdiagnosis with other diseases. Accurate diagnosis of whether symptoms and complications of an individual are due to exposure to carbon monoxide or not is so difficult. The aim of this study is to evaluate carboxy hemoglobin levels in patients with headache visiting emergency department. Methods: In a descriptive study from December 2011 to March 2012, all patients visiting emergency department of Emam Reza hospital with the complaint of headache or headache with other symptoms were studied in a census report. All patients were in the East Azarbaijan area in the cold mounts. Results: Fifty patients including twenty five men and twenty five women were studied. Mean age of men and women were 42.1 ± 16.97 and 46.5 ± 19.64 years, respectively. Seventy percent of patients had complaints of pure headache and did not mention any other symptoms. Eighteen percent of patients had no sign and observation considering poisoning from carbon monoxide and measuring the carboxy hemoglobin levels had led to diagnosis. Conclusion: According to findings of this study, headache in cold mounts of year could be the only symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning. In low levels of carboxy hemoglobin, headache is the only finding and with increasing the age patients with headache would have other symptoms. Women had more proportion than men among patients with carbon monoxide poisoning that had other symptoms more than headache.