Pediatric poison exposures reported to United States poison centers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective

To assess the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with pediatric poison exposures with a focus on unintentional exposures associated with exploratory behavior among children <6 years old.

Methods

An interrupted time series analysis was conducted to evaluate the association of the pandemic with poison exposures among youth <20 years old. Exposures reported to US poison centers (PCs) from 1 March 2017 through 28 February 2020 (pre-pandemic) compared with 1 March 2020 through 28 February 2021 (pandemic) were analyzed.

Results

From March 2017 through February 2021, there were 5,244,684 exposures reported to US PCs involving youth <20 years old. There was a 6.0% decrease in poison exposures among youth <20 years old reported to US PCs from pre-pandemic (annual average) to pandemic periods, and there were 93,336 (95% CI: 92,738–93,937) fewer exposures than expected among these individuals during March 2020 through February 2021. Unintentional poison exposures associated with exploratory behavior among children <6 years old accounted for 91.4% of exposures in this age group, and although there were 17,207 (95% CI: 16,951–17,466) fewer of these exposures than expected during the pandemic period, these exposures initially increased during the first two months of the pandemic before decreasing.

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with changes in poison exposure patterns among youth <20 years old, resulting in a decrease in the number of exposures reported to US PCs during the first pandemic year. Exposure patterns changed with progression from the initial months of the pandemic to later months and varied by age group and reason for exposure. Unintentional poison exposures associated with exploratory behavior among children <6 years demonstrated an increase during the initial first two months of the pandemic before decreasing. Understanding these patterns will help guide an appropriate response to similar future public health events.

Keywords:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• pediatric
• poison
• exploratory behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data for this study were obtained from the National Poison Data System and are owned by America’s Poison Centers.

Submission statement

This submission has not been published anywhere previously and is not simultaneously being considered for any other publication.

Additional information

Funding

Author, Hailee Ciccotti, received a student scholar research stipend from the Child Injury Prevention Alliance while she worked on this study.