OBJECTIVETo review the clinical features of acute toxicity of aromatic amino and nitro compounds.

METHODSA total of 110 papers reporting 1240 cases of acute toxicity induced by aromatic amino and nitro compounds from 1979 to 2013 were collected from CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang database, and were analyzed in this study.

RESULTSOf all included cases, 939 were caused by occupational exposure, and 301 were caused by exposure in daily life. A total of 1044 cases were male, and 196 were female. Age ranged from 9 days to 75 years. There were 13 cases of contact reaction. The numbers of mild, moderate, and severe toxicities were 358, 348, and 139, respectively, and the other 382 cases were not graded for severity. The average incubation period was 4.50±5.71 h (M = 3 h). The average incubation period of aniline toxicity was significantly shorter than that of nitrobenzene toxicity. Methemoglobinemia was found in 1146 cases, while cases of poisonings with 5-nitro-o-toluidine, 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline, and 3-chloro-2-methyl aniline were not found to have methemoglobinemia. The detection rates of MHb and HzB were 83.73% (674/805) and 40.19% (129/321), respectively. Sixty-two (19.31%) out of 321 cases were complicated by intravascular hemolysis, 270 (30.93%) out of 873 cases suffered hepatic impairment, 50 (12.25%) out of 408 cases were accompanied by renal damage. Consciousness disorders were found in 66 cases, and chemical cystitis was found in 36 cases. Oral poisoning could immediately induce severe symptoms including cyanosis, unconsciousness, and hemolysis. In prognosis analysis, it was found that the cure rate was 98.71% (1224/1240), and 14 cases of death were caused by multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, renal failure, uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. Two cases were left with neurological sequelae.

CONCLUSIONThe clinical manifestations of poisoning with aromatic amino and nitro compounds are methemoglobinemia, intravascular hemolysis, liver damage, and renal damage. Treatment with specific medicine methylene blue can produce ideal clinical prognosis, but severe poisoning may cause death from multiple organ failure.