The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2011 , Vol 53 , Num 4
Hospitalizations for Pediatric Intoxication: A Study from İstanbul
Departments of 1Pediatrics I, and 2Family Medicine, Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Kartal Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey Akın Y, Ağzıkuru T, Cömert S, Atılkan P, Erdağ GÇ, Telatar B. Hospitalizations for pediatric intoxication: a study from İstanbul. Turk J Pediatr 2011; 53: 369-374.

The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological features of pediatric patients hospitalized for intoxication. Data were collected from the medical records of children ≤14 years of age, admitted for intoxication in 2005-2007. Of the 2,989 admissions, 330 (11%) were intoxication cases; 238 (72.1%) were <5 years old. Pharmaceutic agents were identified in 76.1%. Psychotropics were the most frequently ingested drugs (33.9%), and tricyclic antidepressants were the most common (27.1%). Non-pharmaceutic agents were identified in 79 (23.9%) patients, 54.4% of which were pesticides. The majority of all cases were accidental poisonings (90%), which occurred mostly in children <5 years old (71.5%), mainly by pharmaceutics, followed by self-inflicted intoxications (8.2%), which demonstrated the highest ratio in children >10 years old (6.7%).

Intoxications are important especially among children <5 years old. Preventive measures such as implementation of the use of child-proof drug prescription bottles and efforts towards public education may reduce the risks. Keywords : childhood, intoxication, pediatric emergency units, accidental.

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