Epidemiological study on accidental poisonings in children from northeast romania

Medicine (Baltimore). 2018 Jul;97(29):e11469. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000011469.

Abstract

Accidental poisonongs are an important cause of morbidity and even mortality, especially in young children.We performed a retrospective observational study on a group of children admitted at the Regional Center of Toxicology at the Children's Emergency Hospital "St. Mary" Iasi with accidental intoxication within a period of 3 years. Data were collected from patients' files and processed with a SPPS 18.0 database and a 95% confidence interval.During this period, 480 children were admitted with accidental intoxication. Most of them were in the age group of 1 to 2 years (120 cases-24.3%). The etiology of these intoxications was dominated by nonmedication (67%), the most frequent being household chemicals, carbon monoxide, and insecticides. Accidental drug intoxication accounted for 33% of the cases, the main drugs involved being anticonvulsants, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and paracetamol. The mortality caused by accidental poisoning was 0.62%, all deaths owing to nonmedication intoxication.Identifying the epidemiological and evolutionary aspects of accidental intoxications must be a major objective for the health system, given that this pathology can be at least partially avoided and its incidence and severity may be reduced using appropriate measures.

Publication types

  • Observational Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Poisoning / epidemiology*
  • Poisoning / mortality
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Romania / epidemiology
  • Survival Rate