Epidemiology of Drug Overdose in Children

Abstract

Childhood drug overdoses are a continuing important public health problem. Although drug overdoses are no longer the important cause of childhood mortality they once were, such poisonings account for highly frequent and unacceptable instances of childhood injuries. These poisonings exact a high cost from society. They result in many emergency department visits and hospitalisations, with the attendant indirect costs of suffering, parental anxiety, and lost days of work or school. Childhood drug overdoses are preventable; those children and families at highest risk show identifiable characteristics, and the medications which pose the greatest hazard to children have already been identified. These injuries divert expensive and scarce medical resources from society's other health problems. Thus, clinicians must do more to prevent childhood drug overdoses whenever possible.

Childhood poisoning in Queensland: An analysis of presentation and admission rates

“…The drop in mortality from childhood poisoning in Australia had occurred by the early 1980s, 7 which may reflect changes in packaging, labelling and storage of poisonous substances, and changes in the toxicity of household chemicals and medicines 8 . The introduction of Federal and State poisons schedules in Australia may also have affected the mortality rate.…”

Be Careful, Mom and Doc: Hepatotoxicity Associated with Prescribed Medications in Young Infants

“…Childhood poisoning is an important problem in many countries [3–9] and accounts for a significant workload for emergency department consultations and hospital admissions [10, 11]. These two cases illustrate hepatotoxicity associated with the treatment of two common conditions in infancy.…”

Medication Errors

“…The authors reply: Dr Robertson has correctly pointed out that medication errors in hospitals, a very preventable source of injury and even death among children, were not mentioned in our recent review of the epidemiology of drug overdose in children (Woolf & Lovejoy 1993). Isn't it time to begin?…”

“…The review of the epidemiology of drug overdose in children recently published in Drug Safety (Woolf & Lovejoy 1993) certainly ought to enable the toxicologic novitiate to understand better the poisoning problem among children across the US -and its history. However, the authors neglected to mention the single specific 'drug overdose' that is projected to actually account for twice as many deaths among the paediatric population as those reported every year from all traditional sources combined.…”