Deaths from Carbon monoxide poisoning in Iran between 2011 and 2018- An ecological study

Abstract Background: Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, as one of the lethal poisoning, is responsible for a large percentage of poisonings and accidental deaths. Since the investigation of the mortality and the distribution of CO poisoning deaths in Iranian provinces is still unknown and no study has investigated so far, this study was conducted to determine the trend of mortality rate changes due to CO poisoning by Spatio-temporal analysis in Iran from 2011 to 2018. Methods: An ecological study was conducted based on data from the reports of at the National Center for Statistics of Iran for eight years from 21 March 2011 to 21 March 2018. The number of deaths due to CO poisoning and the annual mortality rates of CO poisoning per 100,000 population were calculated. The Spatio-temporal analysis used to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of deaths.Results: A total of 6078 deaths were reported due to CO poisoning that 4497 death were male (74%) and 1596 were female (26%) from 2011 to 2018. In both sexes, the mortality rate due to CO poisoning was 1.26 from 2011 to 0.91 in 2018. According to the results, the overall male-to-female ratio was 2.8. The mortality rate due to CO Poisoning had a decreasing trend. However, this trend did not have a linear trend (p=0.37). Our results showed that most of the deaths due to CO poisoning are higher in the northern and western provinces of Iran.Conclusion: This study is one of the first studies to compare the spatial and temporal mortality rates due to CO poisoning in Iran. Paying attention to general education about the principles of safety in the installation of heaters and the use of the gas networks, continuous and accurate monitoring of the installation and operation of CO-producing, and the use of sensitive alarms can reduce mortality and morbidity due to CO poisoning.