Poison Center Data and the Pollyanna Phenomenon

Abstract

The amount of data on human toxicologic exposure that poison centers collect are staggering. There were 2,023,089 human exposure cases reported to 67 participating poison centers in the US in 1995¹. In an effort to report on poisoning and educate the lay public and health care practitioners alike, poison centers must sift through these data and make meaningful conclusions. That task may seem simple, but it is not. This collection of data is the beginning of an effort to develop the information base necessary for clinical action. In its current format much of these data are meaningless when studied scientifically. If we are to succeed in our attempt to advance our field of medical toxicology we must at least do the following: 1) determine what makes population based studies like poison center data reporting so difficult to interpret, 2) develop organized and collaborative scientifically sound methods to invigorate this and other sources of data necessary to solve toxicologic problems and offer reasonable suggestions to the provider