Retrospective Evaluation of Patients With Scorpion Stings Admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Clinic

Feyat Tunç; Süleyman Yıldız; Mehmet Celal Devecioglu; İlyas Yolbas; Fesih Aktar

doi:10.7759/cureus.29606

Retrospective Evaluation of Patients With Scorpion Stings Admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Clinic

Cureus. 2022 Sep 26;14(9):e29606. doi: 10.7759/cureus.29606. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

Feyat Tunç¹, Süleyman Yıldız², Mehmet Celal Devecioglu³, İlyas Yolbas⁴, Fesih Aktar³

Affiliations

¹ Pediatrics and Child Health, Batman Training and Research Hospital, Batman, TUR.
² Pediatrics and Child Health, Mardin Derik State Hospital, Mardin, TUR.
³ Pediatrics and Child Health, Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Diyarbakır, TUR.
⁴ Pediatrics and Child Health, Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Diyarbakir, TUR.

Abstract

Introduction Scorpion sting in children is still a serious health problem today. Children are at greater risk of developing severe cardiac, respiratory, and neurological complications because of their low body weight. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the demographical changes, complaints, clinical findings, and laboratory results of scorpion sting cases admitted to the pediatric emergency department. Materials and Methods The records of 72 patients who were followed up with the diagnosis of scorpion sting in the Dicle University Pediatric Emergency Department between 2013 and 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Results The patients included in the study were between one and 15 years (7.64±4.04 years) and 43.1% were male, and 56.9% were female. While 65.3% of the cases lived in rural areas, 34.7% lived in the city center. The most common stung areas in the cases were the lower extremity (51.4%) and the upper extremity (34.7%). The most common complaints in the patients were 70.8% pain, 58.3% edema, 41.7% cold extremities, 23.6% sweating, 22.2% vomiting, and 12.5% excessive salivation. Of the cases, 71.4% had mild, 25.7% had moderate, and 2.9% had severe stages. Of the patients, 91.6% were given antivenom, 75.7% were given antihistamines, 74.3% were given steroids, 65.7% were given antibiotics, 64.3% were given analgesics, 44.3% were given tetanus vaccine, 2.8% were given erythrocyte suspension and 1.4% were given platelet suspension. In addition, 11.4% of the cases were given prazosin treatment. While 32.9% of the cases required intensive care, two patients died. A statistically significant difference was found between the glucose, urea, creatine, total protein, sodium, potassium, alanine aminotransferase, white blood cell count, red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, neutrophil count values of the patients at admission and discharge. Conclusion Scorpion sting cases are still a significant health problem. The severe clinical course is more common in children. The management of patients with severe clinical forms is based on early recognition of the sting, antivenom serum administration, and cardiorespiratory and systemic support.

Keywords: antivenom; children; mortality; pediatric emergency; prazosin; scorpion sting.