Abstract
Objectives: According to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat),
6477 children aged between 1 and 17 years, died in 2015 and
29.5% (n=1909) of these deaths were because of injuries due to
external causes and poisoning. Our aim is to produce solutions
to this problem by evaluating demographics, clinical features of
patients and the causes and consequences of poisoning.
Materials and Methods: The hospital medical records of
children who were admitted with acute intoxication to Pediatric
Emergency Service at Marmara University Hospital in 2015, were
evaluated retrospectively.
Results: In 2015, a total of 1110 patients applied to the hospital
due to poisoning. Of these cases, 31.6% (n = 351) were children,
about half of them were male (n = 173) and half were female (n
= 178). The mean age of males was 6.24 years and mean age of
females was 8.47 years. Sixty percent (n=213) of patients were in
0-6 age group, 8% (n=28) of patients were in 7-11 age group, 32
% (n=110) of patients were in 12-18 age group. Forty-six point
one percent (n = 162) were poisoned with medications. Among the
pharmaceuticals, paracetamol was the most commonly used agent
(14.8%). In non-pharmaceuticals, caustic/corrosive substances
(detergent, bleach, acetone etc.) were the most frequently used
agents (54%).
Conclusion: In this study, 80.3% of the cases were preventable
accidental poisoning. Regulations on child-resistant packaging
should come into force as soon as possible.