Drug poisoning in the community among children: a nine years’ experience from a tertiary care center in south India

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This study was performed to determine the incidence, demographic distribution, types and outcomes across various drug poisonings among children from south India.

Methods: This retrospective study included children less than 16 years who presented to the Pediatric Emergency Department with drug poisoning from the 1st of October 2004 to the 30th of September 2013.

Results: Out of the total 997 poisoning cases, 366 (36.71%) were contributed by drugs; mainly antiepileptics, central nervous system depressants, psychotropics, analgesic-antipyretics and natural drugs. Males and children of < 5 years were mostly affected. Although many children developed complications and required intensive care unit admissions, the total mortality rate was less than 1%. The incidence of drug poisoning showed a decreasing trend over the last 4 years.

Conclusion: This study for the first time gives an elaborative insight into pediatric drug poisoning over a nine-year period from a Pediatric Emergency Department tertiary care center in south India.

KEYWORDS:

• Drugs
• poisoning
• toxicity
• children
• south India

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Sarah Mathai, Child Health 1, Dr. Valsan Philip Verghese, Child Health 3 and Dr. Kala Ebnezer, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Christian Medical College, Vellore. The authors are grateful to Mr. Suresh Saravanan, Computerized Hospital Information System Department, Medical Records Department, Christian Medical College, Vellore for helping in data collection. The authors also acknowledge Dr. Jacob Peedicayil, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore for providing valuable inputs in manuscript preparation.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.