Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Poisonings

Abstract

Objective: The aim is to determine the extent of the types of poisoning and the factors influencing them. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out between January and July of 2019. Hospital records of 107 cases who had presented to the pediatric emergency department for poisoning were retrospectively reviewed. In the analysis, descriptive statistics and the chi-square tests from univariate analyses were used. The SPSS 20.0 package program was used to analyze the data. Results: 49.5% of the cases were girls, and 5.6% were villagers. 51.4% of poisonings occurred in spring, 68.2% were oral, drugs (%51.4) were the most common poisoning agents. Poisoning of the drugs were observed 17.4% less frequently in the age group 6-12 years than in other age groups, 60.3% less frequently in those who lived in the city center than in those who lived in the district, and 75.3% less frequently in those who took the drug orally than by other means (p<0.05). Poisoning occurred in 33.6% between 12:00-17:59. When analyzed by age group, poisonings are most common in the age group 0-5 years with 62.6%. Symptoms developed after poisoning in 72.0% of cases. In cases of poisoning, supportive treatment was the most commonly applied method, with 79.4%. There was no mortality due to poisoning in any of the cases. Conclusions: Drug poisoning was detected in the majority of the cases. The risk of drug poisoning was lower in children living in rural areas and the age group 6-12 years.