Clinical profile of Poisoning in children (original) (raw)

2019, International journal of scientific research

Poisoning is when the cells are injured or destroyed by the inhalation, ingestion, injection or absorption of toxic substance. Key factors that predict severity and outcome of poisoning are the nature, dose, formulation and route of exposure of the poison, co-exposure to other poisons. State of nutrition of the child along with age , preexisting health condition, availability & quality of medical facilities plays important role in the outcome (1,2). With increasing urbanization and rapid socioeconomic development, we expect change in the profile of poisoning (2). Accidental poisoning as compared to intentional poisoning in children is still an important public health problem and remains a frequent cause of admission in emergency units with preventable morbidity & mortality (3). The incidence of childhood poisonings in numerous studies ranges from 0.33% to 7.6 % (4) & 1-2 % of total pediatric admissions (3). Poisoning is most commonly observed between 1-5 years of age and these children constitute 80 % of all poisoning cases (4). In the first year of life the main causes of poisoning are medications given by parents. At 2-5 years of age house cleaning products and kerosene oil which is still used as cooking fuel and over the counter medications kept carelessly in the house caused most cases of accidental poisoning (4). Data from developed countries about profile of poisoning in children is available, whereas limited data & statistics from developing countries such as India is lacking. Limited available data shows childhood poisoning as considerable cause of morbidity and mortality in India. The present study was conducted with an objective to assess profile of childhood poisoning at our centre. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study which was done at Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Thane district, over the period of 5 years, from January 2014 to November 2018. It describes the clinical data of acute poisonings (oral and parenteral) in pediatric population from 0 to 12 years of age. Acute food poisoning cases were excluded from the study. Data was obtained from the records of all the patients and was transferred to standard forms and was submitted for statistical analysis. The age, sex, type of poison, manner of poisoning, symptoms, duration of hospitalization and outcome was evaluated. Approval from local ethical committee was taken before starting this study. RESULTS: Total 485 patients admitted with acute poisoning were included in the study. Year wise distribution of poisoning cases is shown in figure 1.