Acute poisoning in children admitted to pediatric emergency department: a five-years retrospective analysis

Paolo Maurizio Soave; Antonietta Curatola; Serena Ferretti; Vincenzo Raitano; Giorgio Conti; Antonio Gatto; Antonio Chiaretti

doi:10.23750/abm.v93i1.11602

Acute poisoning in children admitted to pediatric emergency department: a five-years retrospective analysis

Authors

Paolo Maurizio Soave Department of Emergency, Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Antonietta Curatola Department of Pediatrics, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli”, IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2430-9876
Serena Ferretti Department of Pediatrics, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli”, IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
Vincenzo Raitano Institute of Pediatrics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia
Giorgio Conti Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli”, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Antonio Gatto Department of Pediatrics, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli”, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Antonio Chiaretti a:1:{s:5:"en_US";s:81:"Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore ROMA";}

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v93i1.11602

Keywords:

children, pediatric, poisoning, toxicology, personalized medicine

Abstract

Background and aim: to identify most frequent risk factors and to propose prevention strategies for the children admitted to Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) with acute poisoning.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study in a tertiary care hospital, describing the frequency and nature of pediatric poisoning, clinical management and outcome.

Results: We collected data of 436 children admitted for acute poisoning. The mean age was 30 months and 51.1% were male. Most poisoning incidents (90.1%) were unintentional and drug ingestion (39.4%) was the leading cause of poisoning. Acute poisoning happened at home in 83,7% of cases and the mother was the most frequent caregiver during the event in 61.5%. No died were reported.

Conclusion: Our study showed that the two categories of patients at greatest risk for acute poisoning are children under 3 years and adolescents over 12 years. Adequate information campaigns about toxic substances are essential for children, adolescents and their parents.

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