EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DRUG OVERDOSE IN CHILDREN

Childhood drug overdoses are a continuing important public health prob lem. Although drug overdoses are no longer the important cause of chil dhood mortality they once were, such poisonings account for highly fre quent and unacceptable instances of childhood injuries. These poisonin gs exact a high cost from society. They result in many emergency depar tment visits and hospitalisations, with the attendant indirect costs o f suffering, parental anxiety, and lost days of work or school. Childh ood drug overdoses are preventable: those children and families at hig hest risk show identifiable characteristics, and the medications which pose the greatest hazard to children have already been identified. Th ese injuries divert expensive and scarce medical resources from societ y's other health problems. Thus, clinicians must do more to prevent ch ildhood drug overdoses whenever possible.