Childhood acute poisoning in the Italian North-West area: a six-year retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Data about acute poisoning in Italian pediatric patients are obsolete or absent. This study would partially fill this exiting gap and compare the scene with others around the world. Methods: A retrospective evaluation was performed on a 2012-2017 data registry of the Children's Emergency Department at the Regina Margherita Hospital of Turin, where 1030 children under age 14 were accepted with a diagnosis of acute intoxication. Results: The median age of the patients was 2.2 years (IQR 2.3) and 55% were male. Events occurred mostly in children aged 1-4 years (n = 751, 72.9%). Six hundred and eight patients (59%) were exposed to Nonpharmaceutical agents, the household cleaning products being the more frequent (n = 298, 49%). Exposure to Pharmaceuticals were 422 (41%); the most common Pharmaceuticals were analgesics (n = 88, 20.8%), psychotropics (n = 77, 18.2%) and cardiovascular (n = 53, 12.6%) drugs. The 85% of the intoxications occurred accidentally, the 10.6% as therapeutic error, the 2.3% as suicide attempts and the 1.5% for recreational purposes. No patient died. Conclusions: Despite acute poisoning being a relevant problem in pediatric emergency, our results would seem to paint a less worrying picture if compared to other countries, mainly when considering the children hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit and the number of deaths. Nevertheless, our study might represent a tool for public health authorities to program incisive interventions.

Frequency and Management of Acute Poisoning Among Children Attending an Emergency Department in Saudi Arabia

“…Most incidents were in boys which is consistent with other recent studies [ 27 , 28 ]. Although there have been no comprehensive epidemiological studies of the incidence of poisoning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to date, studies published for different Gulf regions and time periods also indicate that children 4 or 5 years and younger are most often affected; similar results were reported in studies worldwide [ 1 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 14 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. The literature notes that the balance switches in adolescents when girls were more likely to attend hospital emergency departments with intentional poisoning [ 1 , 15 ].…”

“…Studies by Berta et al (2020) in Northern Italy [ 7 ], Patel et al (2017) in the United States [ 8 ], Ahmed et al (2015) in Qatar, [ 9 ], Mintegi et al (2006) in Spain [ 10 ], Hoy et al (1999), Reith et al (2001), Schmertmann (2013) and Lee et al (2019) in Australia [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], Mutlu et al (2010) in Turkey [ 15 ], Azab et al (2016) in Egypt [ 16 ], Sharif et al (2003) in Ireland [ 17 ], Tobaiqy et al (2010) in Scotland [ 18 ], Christophersen (2002) in Denmark [ 19 ], Dayasiri (2017 and 2020) in Sri Lanka [ 20 , 21 ], Mohammadi et al (2020) in Iran [ 22 ], Yehya et al (2020) and Albals et al (2020) in Jordan [ 23 , 24 ] and Ham et al (2020) in Korea [ 25 ] demonstrate the global nature and breadth of research of the problem of acute poisoning. The most frequent source of poisoning varies from country to country depending on social, economic, cultural, and educational background [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. In developed countries, the most toxic substances are medicines and household cleaning products; developing countries more frequently see kerosene and pesticides causing acute p...…”

“…The most frequent source of poisoning varies from country to country depending on social, economic, cultural, and educational background [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. In developed countries, the most toxic substances are medicines and household cleaning products; developing countries more frequently see kerosene and pesticides causing acute poisoning in children [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

Dažniausi Apsinuodijimai Vaikų Amžiuje

“…Kituose regionuose (Europoje, Vakarų Azijoje) dažniau apsinuodija berniukai [4]. Sugrupavus pediatrinius pacientus į skirtingus amžiaus laikotarpius, stebimos išskirtinai kiekvienai amžiaus grupei būdingos apsinuodijimų aplinkybės (1 lentelė) [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Tokio amžiaus vaikus auginančios šeimos į VSPS dėl mergaičių apsinuodijimo atvyksta taip Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universiteto Medicinos akademija, 2 Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universiteto Vaikų ligų klinika, Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universiteto Kauno klinikos, Vaikų ligų klinika Nr.3, p. 183-185 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35988/sm-hs.2021.105 APŽVALGA / REVIEW pat dažnai, kaip ir dėl berniukų[5]. Augantis vaikas linkęs tyrinėti supančią aplinką rankomis ir burna, todėl lengvai pasiekiami, patraukliai įpakuoti ir maloniai kvepiantys namų apyvokos produktai, kosmetikos priemonės, vaistai ir kitos medžiagos tampa vizito į VSPS priežastimi.…”