Background: The regional poison information center is a potential sentinel for substance abuse patterns. Its central data collection system allows it to access information from large population groups. We report results from a one year prospective cases series of inhalation abuse from two regional poison information centers.
Design: Prospective case series. All inhalation exposures reported to two regional poison information centers with a reason of intentional abuse were included.
Results: One hundred sixty-five cases were collected. One hundred twenty-four exposures (75%) were male. Age ranged from 4 to 45 y, with a mean, median and mode of 16.6 (SD 7.3), 15 and 13, respectively. Nine children were < 6 years old. There were 22 substances involved, but two substances (spray paint and gasoline) accounted for more than 61% of all cases. In children < 9 y (n = 18, 11%) gasoline alone accounted for 83% of exposures. Abuse occurred statewide, in both urban and rural settings, but tended to occur more often in rural environments (75%). Abuse was reported throughout the day with a peak incidence at 8 pm. One hundred twenty-three patients received direct medical evaluation or care. There was one fatality in this series and 15 patients were described as having life threatening symptoms.
Conclusions: Inhalation abuse may begin very early in childhood and abuse appears to peak in adolescence. The regional poison information center can act as a sentinel for abuse patterns. This information can assist health care providers in poison and abuse prevention efforts.