Acute poisoning in children

Background: Childhood poisoning continues to challenge the diagnostic and t reatment skills of the pediatrician. Generally childhood poisoning can be a ttributed to suboptimal parental supervision and accessibility of products with poisoning potential. Objective: To evaluate the pattern of acute poisoning in children with rela tion to different age groupings. Methods: Pediatric patients hospitalized for acute poisoning at the Soroka Medical Center over a 5 year period (1994-98) were evaluated retrospectivel y. Special attention was given to poisoning in relation to age groupings. Results: During the years 1994-98 a total of 1,143 children were admitted f or acute poisoning to the Soroka Medical Center. The majority of cases occu rred in children aged 2-5 and 14-18 years. Males under 14 had a higher freq uency of poisoning, the poisoning usually being unintentional, whereas pois oning in females occurred mostly in the 14-18 age group and was intentional . Drugs were the most common agent of poisoning in infants (0-1 year), in o lder children (10-13 years), and in adolescents (14-18 years), while in chi ldren aged 2-5 and 6-9 years either cleaning products or drugs were the usu al agents of poisoning. Most poisonings in children aged 2-13 occurred betw een 4 and 8 p.m., and for most adolescent patients (14-18 years old) betwee n 4 p.m. and midnight. Poisoning in children aged 2-13 were usually due to accessible home products, and to medicinal errors such as overdose and impr oper drug administration. Conclusions: This study defines the characteristic pattern of pediatric poi soning with respect to different age groups and gender. Unintentional child hood poisoning predominated in males and occurred mostly because of accessi ble home products and suboptimal parental supervision during critical hours of the day. Most adolescent poisoning occurred in females and was intentio nal. Parental education and intensified child supervision are indicated mea sures of prevention for unintentional poisoning.