Age group characteristics of children who visited the emergency department with acute poisoning by ingestion
- Author:
Weon Seon RYU
1
;
Jea Yeon CHOI
;
Jin Seong CHO
;
Yong Su LIM
;
Sung Youl HYUN
;
Hyuk Jun YANG
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Adolescent; Child; Emergency Service; Hospital; Epidemiology; Poisoning
- MeSH: Adolescent; Age Distribution; Analgesics; Child; Decontamination; Eating; Emergencies; Emergency Service, Hospital; Epidemiology; Family Characteristics; Female; Histamine Antagonists; Hospital Mortality; Hospitalization; Household Products; Humans; Infant; Logistic Models; Male; Methomyl; Odds Ratio; Poisoning
- From:Pediatric Emergency Medicine Journal 2018;5(1):5-12
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the age group characteristics of children who visited the emergency department with acute poisoning by ingestion. METHODS: We reviewed children under 19 years who visited the emergency department for acute poisoning by ingestion from 2012 to 2017. The children were divided into 3 age groups; infants (0-1 years), preschoolers (2-5 years), and schoolers (6-18 years). Clinical characteristics, intentional ingestion, involved substances (drugs, household products, artificial substances, and pesticides), decontamination and antidote therapy, and outcomes of the 3 age groups were compared. We also performed multivariable logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with hospitalization. RESULTS: A total of 622 children with acute poisoning by ingestion were analyzed. Their annual proportions to overall pediatric emergency patients ranged from 0.3% to 0.4%. Age distribution showed bimodal peaks at 0-2 years and 15-17 years. The infants showed lower frequency of girls, intentional ingestion, ingestion of drugs, performance of decontamination and antidote therapy, and hospitalization than 2 older groups (P < 0.001). Most decontamination, antidote therapy, and hospitalization occurred in the schoolers (P < 0.001). The most frequently reported substances were household cleaning substances in the infants (18.2%), antihistamines in the preschoolers (15.8%), and analgesics in the schoolers (37.5%). The factors associated with hospitalization were intentional ingestion (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 7.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.85-17.61; P = 0.001) and schoolers (aOR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.10-7.53; P = 0.031; compared with infants). Only 1 in-hospital mortality was found in a boy aged 2 years who ingested methomyl. CONCLUSION: Infants may experience non-intentional ingestion, ingestion of non-pharmacologic substances (especially household cleaning substances), discharge without decontamination and antidote therapy more frequently than older children. Thus, we need age group-specific, preventive and therapeutic plans for children with acute poisoning.
