English

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the profile and outcome (discharge from emergency room after observation, admission or death) of pediatric patients presenting with acute poisoning to a tertiary care centre in central India. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the last 3-years period from December 2010 to November 2013 hospital records of the pediatric emergency room to profile all cases of pediatric poisoning and noted their outcome. All cases age ≤12 years with definite history of poisoning were included. RESULTS: 95 cases presented to the pediatric emergency with poisoning during the study period. Mean age of our patients was 2.72±1.54 yrs (SD). The majority of our patients (67.2%) were in the 1-3 yrs age group. Males outnumbered females by a factor of two; the majority of our patients resided in urban areas. Kerosene (32.6%), drugs (19.8%) and insecticides (9.7 %) were the agents most frequently implicated. Almost all (96.8 %) ingestions were accidental in nature. Twenty four patients (25.3%) were asymptomatic after 6hrs of observation in the emergency ward; 71patients (74.7 %) developed symptoms related to toxic ingestion. The common serious symptoms included altered sensorium, respiratory distress, seizures, ataxia, hypotension, cyanosis and burns; three patients required intubation and mechanical ventilation. Almost one third of our patients underwent gastric lavage; no patient with kerosene poisoning or any other inappropriate indication underwent the same. CONCLUSION: Comparative data has revealed that while poisoning in developed countries is mostly due to common household products, in developing countries like ours, it is due to toxic substances which should not have been accessible to children in the first place.