ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Although poisonings represent a significant number of preventable causes of morbidity and mortality admissions to hospital and pediatric intensive care unit, data about poisonings requiring pediatric intensive care unit care level are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate poisoned patients who were treated in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine.

Methods:

The records of 186 patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit due to acute poisoning between 2009 and 2015 were retrospectively evaluated.

Results:

The poisoned patients were aged between 14 months-17 years and the female to male ratio was 1.6:1. Most poisonings occurred at home (87.6%) via the oral route (91.4%). It was noted that 59.1% of poisoning cases were accidental, whereas 28.5% were suicidal and 12.4% were a result of a therapeutic error. Nearly two-thirds (60.2%) of cases were drug-related, while 39.8% were non-drug-related. Central nervous system drugs (27.6%) were the most common agent in drug-related poisoning, however, corrosive substances were the most common in nondrug-related poisoning. The overall mortality rate in this study was 5.4%. Mortality from non-drug poisoning (4.3%) was higher than from drug-related causes (1.1%).

Conclusion:

The results of this study emphasize the need for regulations in industrial and health policies related to the aim of increasing awareness of potential toxins, appropriate storage of potential toxins, and general precautions to promote safety at home.