Introduction: The aim was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on French Poison Control Centre (PCC) call characteristics. Methods: Reported cases of xenobiotic exposures from 1 March to 30 April in 2018, 2019, and 2020 were extracted from the French National Database of Poisonings. The collected data included call, patient, and exposure characteristics for both general calls and for calls involving sentinel xenobiotic categories related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 exposures were compared to 2018-2019 exposures by using simple logistic models in order to provide effect size with odds ratios. Results: From March to April 2020, 32,182 exposures were reported to French PCCs with an overall increase of 5.6% compared to exposures in the same time frame in 2018-2019. A similar increase in calls was observed in non-epidemic and epidemic COVID-19 areas with an increase in calls from the public (þ13.6%) while calls from health-professionals decreased (À7.5%). Despite the increase in exposures, the incidence of symptomatic exposures remained stable (À0.4%) with a decrease in severity (moderate/severe À17.2%). A significant increase in exposures to home cleaning products containing biocides, essential oils, and alcohol-based hand sanitizers (odds ratio >1.3, p < .0001) was observed. Discussion and conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic altered calls to French PCCs with a small increase in calls during the study period and changes in the pattern of exposure. These changes possibly reflected the indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic i.e., limited access to primary care, fear of contracting COVID-19 and anxiety related to home isolation.

Plant food supplements (PFS) are products of increasing popularity and wide-spread distribution. Nevertheless, information about their risks is limited. To fill this gap, a poisons centres-based study was performed as part of the EU project PlantLIBRA. Multicentre retrospective review of data from selected European and Brazilian poisons centres, involving human cases of adverse effects due to plants consumed as food or as ingredients of food supplements recorded between 2006 and 2010. Ten poisons centres provided a total of 75 cases. In 57 cases (76%) a PFS was involved; in 18 (24%) a plant was ingested as food. The 10 most frequently reported plants were Valeriana officinalis, Camellia sinensis, Paullinia cupana, Melissa officinalis, Passiflora incarnata, Mentha piperita, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Ilex paraguariensis, Panax ginseng, and Citrus aurantium. The most frequently observed clinical effects were neurotoxicity and gastro-intestinal symptoms. Most cases showed a benign clinical course; however, five cases were severe. PFS-related adverse effects seem to be relatively infrequent issues for poisons centres. Most cases showed mild symptoms. Nevertheless, the occurrence of some severe adverse effects and the increasing popularity of PFS require continuous active surveillance, and further research is warranted. Most cases showed a benign clinical course; however, five cases were severe. Conclusions:PFS-related adverse effects seem to be relatively infrequent issues for poisons centres. Most cases showed mild symptoms. Nevertheless, the occurrence of some severe adverse effects and the increasing popularity of PFS require continuous active surveillance, and further research is warranted.

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VThe objective of this study was to update the 2002 data on medical exposure of the French population to ionizing radiation. It is based on 2007 data and only includes exposures from diagnostic procedures: conventional radiology, computed tomography, nuclear medicine, and diagnostic interventional radiology. Relevant data concerning the nature and frequencies of the examinations were obtained from two main sources: the national health insurance data for private practice and representative surveys in public hospitals for public practice. An ''average'' effective dose was assessed for each type of examination using principally dosimetric data collected to update the French diagnostic reference levels and professional guidance. The results showed that 74.6 million examinations were performed in 2007, leading to an average effective dose per inhabitant equal to 1.3 mSv per year. Conventional radiology and CT represented 63% and 10.1% of the examinations and 26.1% and 58.0% of the effective dose, respectively. The annual number of examinations per inhabitant was constant between 2002 and 2007 (about 1.2 examinations). However, the corresponding average effective dose per inhabitant increased by 57%, from 0.83 to 1.3 mSv per year. This increased dose was due mostly to a growing number of CT and nuclear medicine examinations. As recommended by the European Commission, studies should be conducted every 5 y to survey the evolution of medical exposure of the French population. Furthermore, specific studies should be conducted to evaluate whether this estimated increase in dose delivered for diagnostics is related to an increase in the medical benefit. Health Phys. 102(6):670Y679; 2012