An epidemiological study of the factors influencing poisoning in children aged 0–5 years

Abstract

The aim of this cross disciplinary study was to identify the most significant variables related to childhood accidental poisoning. The study was carried out on a representative sample of families living in the Greater Athens Area comprising 1245 children aged up to 5 years. Data were collected by a team of researchers (paediatricians, psychologists and social workers) and involved a structured interview and a paediatric examination. The findings show that childhood poisoning is correlated with: (1) biological variables, such as skeletal anomalies, language disorders, number of recent infections and complications of pregnancy; and (2) social factors, such as father's educational level, monthly family income, and overcrowding. Sex of the child was not found to influence poisoning.

Population Attributable Risk of Unintentional Childhood Poisoning in Karachi Pakistan

“…Childhood behavior as hyperactive is another important determinant identified by our study, a finding consistent with earlier studies [15], [25]–[27]. Furthermore, it is also observed that the behavior of hyperactivity makes children prone to the ingestion of harmful substances.…”

Unintentional Poisoning in Children Admitted to Tabriz Pediatric Hospital

“…2 Previous studies showed that accidental poisoning in children is related to the life-style of the households and the environmental factors. [20][21][22] Therefore, the differences between our findings and others' results might be because of the variations in different communities. Similar data were found in a study on ingestion of medicines among children, conducted by Béria et al, in which 62% of mothers of children who ingested medicines had 4-10 years of schooling.…”

Availability and Storage of Hazardous Products in Households in the Metropolitan Region of Manaus: A Population-Based Survey, 2015

“…18 Another epidemiological study carried out in Greece with 1,245 children, aged up to 5 years old, indicated that child poisoning is correlated with overcrowding at home, which could lead to uncontrolled settings and, consequently, to difficulties in monitoring the child's behavior. 19 Households with children ≤5 years old had safer storage of cleaning products and medications, indicating a better care by guardians. Most reported cases of poisonings from a study that included five hospitals in Australia occurred in an unsupervised time span of five minutes or less, and the most common means of access were during the usage of agents, accounting for three quarters of the total cases.…”