| Summary: | Introduction: Pediatric poisoning is a common cause of emergency department admissions. The epidemiology of pediatric poisonings can vary in different countries, even different regions of the same country. It is important to determine the regional factors to decrease morbidity and mortality. This study was aimed to evaluate the epidemiological features, clinical signs, and risk factors of pediatric poisonings.
Methods: This retrospective descriptive study was carried out in the pediatric emergency department of a tertiary hospital and medical records between January 2016 and December 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic characteristics, laboratory results and treatments were recorded.
Results: 835 patients aged 4 months-18 years including 450 females (53.9%) were included in the study. Poisonings were most common in summer (n = 280, 33.5%) and in the daytime (n = 490, 58.7%). The mean age of suicidal poisoning was significantly higher then accidental poisonings (p < 0.001). Pharmaceutical agents were statistically significantly higher in patients poisoned due to suicidal attempts (p < 0.001). On the other hand, there was not a statistically significant difference between accidental and suicidal poisoning in terms of clinical presentation, length of stay in hospital, and, ICU requirement (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: Childhood poisoning is one of the important emergencies that need attention. Pediatric emergency physicians should always keep in mind the possibility of poisoning, even with the lack of medical history. It could be estimated the possible ingested agents according to the age group, and this allows physicians to avoid delay in treatment of these patients.
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