UNINTENTIONAL CHILDHOOD POISONING IN ATHENS - A MIRROR OF CONSUMERISM

Objective: To estimate the incidence of unintentional childhood injuri es resulting from accidental poisonings in the Greater Athens area and to ascertain what fraction of this incidence could be linked to speci fied conditions, amenable to preventive interventions, Methods: Prospe ctive study over 12 months of 670 children hospitalized greater than o r equal to 24 hours for accidental poisoning. Site: Two pediatric hosp itals and three smaller units in Greater Athens admitting children les s than or equal to 15 years old. Information was recorded in a semistr uctured questionnaire and the data were analyzed through simple strati fication by one or more variables. Results: Accidental poisoning requi ring hospitalization greater than or equal to 24 hours was 50% higher among boys than among girls, peaked towards the end of the second year , and declined sharply after the fourth year of Life with an estimated incidence of 500 cases per 100,000 among children greater than or equ al to 5 years old. Cigarettes were the most common agent among infants , whereas medicinal products dominated all other childhood periods, De tergents, petroleum products, and pesticides each contributed about 10 % of all poisonings with detergents peaking during the second year of life, petroleum products during the third year, and pesticides remaini ng constant, in proportional terms, throughout childhood. During the w orking hours of the day the incidence of poisonings was 80% higher tha n during the late afternoon and evening hours or Me weekends, the time s when both parents are usually at home; Me excess was statistically s ignificant. The presence of both parents at home in the afternoon hour s was associated with an almost 50% reduction of hospitalized poisonin g. The accessibility of products with poisoning potential was of major importance. Some specific conditions that led to the incident include d storage of potentially poisoning products in the refrigerator, stora ge of such products in containers of innocuous products, without prope r labeling, and parental errors in medication. Conclusions: Unintentio nal childhood poisoning further reflects an interaction between inappr opriate storage of consumer products and suboptimal supervision during Me housekeeping hours of the day.