SEVERITY GRADING OF CHILDHOOD POISONING - THE MULTICENTER STUDY OF POISONING IN CHILDREN (MSPC) SCORE

Scores for severity grading of childhood poisoning may be useful in co mparing different causes of poisoning, in order to identify the main r isks and their changes over time. The Multicentre Study of Poisoning i n Children score is based on four levels of severity (1 - mild, 2 - mo derate, 3 - severe, 4 - very severe) involving nine target groups: sev en relating to organ systems (gastrointestinal, nervous, respiratory, circulatory, renal, hepatic, skin), one to metabolic abnormalities and one to injuries from corrosive substances. Each patient is classified by the highest level attributed to any one of the nine groups. The sc ore has been prospectively tested in 644 symptomatic children, aged 0- 13 years, admitted to six pediatric hospitals of Northern Italy from J anuary 1, 1991 to December 31, 1993. Poisoning was categorized as mild (I) in 357 children (53.8%), moderate (2) in 285 (42.9%), severe (3) in 18 (2.7%) and very severe (4) in 4 (0.6%). No deaths occurred. Seve rity grading according to The Multicentre Study of Poisoning in Childr en score confirms the prevalence of mild and moderate poisonings in ch ildren; the score seems to be an objective method suitable for epidemi ological studies in different countries. Its clinical usefulness deser ves more investigation.