Frequency, Etiology and Several Socio-demographic Characteristics of Acute Poisoning in Children Treated in the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Aim:The aim of this work has been to present the frequency, etiology and several other socio-demographic characteristics of acute poisoning in children.The treated patients and methods of work:The treated patients were children of all age groups hospitalized in the Pediatric Clinic of Prishtina during year 2009. The study was done retrospectively. The diagnosis was done on the basis of heteroanamnesis and in several cases on the basis of the anamnesis data of a child, routine laboratory tests and toxicologic analysis.Results:66 (9.4%) poisoned children were treated in the Intensive Care Unit. The biggest number of patients, 37 (56.06%) of them, were male, and out of that number 36 (54.55%) cases were coming from rural areas. The biggest number of them 49 (74.98%) were over 2-6 years old. The poisoning was mostly caused through the digestive tract (ingestion), it happened with 55 cases (83.33%), 56 cases (84,80%) suffered from severe poisoning, whereas 59 cases (89,50%) suffered from accidental poisoning. Regarding the type of the substances that caused poisoning, the most frequent were drugs in 34 (51.50%) cases and pesticides in 20 (30.30%) cases. Among drugs, the most dominant were those belonging to a group of benzodiazepines (10 cases) and metoclopramide (4 cases). Among pesticides the most dominant one that caused poisoning was malation (5 cases), then paration and cipermetrina appeared in 3 cases each. The biggest number of cases, 64 (96.96%) of them, were treated, whereas 2 cases (3.40%) passed away.Conclusion:The practice proved that that our people are not well informed about the poisoning in general, therefore it is necessary that they be educated by the use of all media, written and electronic, as well as other methods of medical education.

Pattern of Acute Toxicity Among Children at Zagazig University Hospitals in 2017: (Clinical and Demographic Data)

“…Many studies listed analgesics and benzodiazepines as the most common drugs in childhood poisoning. [12,26,27] In the clinical profile of studied cases, we noticed that neurological manifestations were the commonest (39.4%) as: disturbed consciousness, convulsions or abnormal movements. Two patients spontaneously recovered a normal neurological condition within the first 24 hours without an antidote treatment.…”

“…[10] Other studies showed that the incidence was more common in boys. [11,12]. However, some reports showed that distribution is nearly equal in males and females.…”

Childhood Poisoning Cases Admitted to Zagazig University Hospitals during the Year 2018: A Retrospective Study

“…Childhood poisoning is a complicated condition resulting from interactive relations of the family, the child, the child's environment and the xenobiotic itself making it frequent [4]. In addition to economic and communities' health damage, childhood poisoning cases also result in an enormous emotional and psychological family load [5].…”

Epidemiological Study of Acute Toxicity in Children Admitted to Poison Control Center, Ain Shams University Hospitals during the Year 2012 -A Retrospective Study

“…The observation of pharmaceutical products as a group being the commonest cause of childhood poisoning is reported by previous studies in Thailand (Chatsantiprapa et al, 2001), Saudi Arabia (Izuora and Adeoye, 2001), Pakistan (Aslam et al, 2002), England (Groom et al, 2006), Turkey (Sahin et al, 2011 andOzdemir et al, 2012), Greece (Tsalkidis et al, 2010), Kosovo (Azemi et al, 2012) and New Zealand (Fan et al, 2013).…”