Clinical profile of poisoning in children: a hospital based study

Abstract

Background: Poisoning is a common medical emergency in children and most of the cases are accidental in nature. The objective was to study clinical profile of children presenting with poisoning to the pediatric emergency department of a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, India. Methods: This is Prospective study conducted in a Pediatric ward over a period of 18 months after obtaining permission from institutional ethics committee. Total 50 cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study over the period of 18 months. Neonates and the children with snake, scorpion and animal envenomation were excluded. Children with allergic drug reaction or food poisoning were excluded. Descriptive analysis of the collected data was performed using SPSS v.15. Results: Fifty cases of poisoning formed 1.3% of all paediatric admissions (3700 admissions). Most of the cases were accidental (94%). There were 84 % children between 1-5 years of age with male preponderance. Kerosene oil poisoning remained the commonest (32%) accidental poisoning in this study. An interesting trend was concentrated HCL poisoning (now a common household product) as the second commonest poisoning (17.3%). This was followed by poisoning with various drugs used by adults in the house. Conclusions: Acute accidental kerosene poisoning in children is of frequent occurrence in the paediatric emergency department; and thorough knowledge about the management of each poison is essential. Most of the accidents are preventable and prompt treatment can reduce mortality and long term morbidity.