Abstract

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the pattern of acute poisoning related to drugs in children with relation to different age groups.

METHODS

The age, gender, active pharmaceutical ingredients, mode of drug provision, time elapsed from drug intake to hospital entry, duration of hospitalization and the outcome of all drug-related poisonings that were admitted to our hospital during 2006 were recorded.

RESULTS

A total of 257 cases, aged between 1 month and 18 years with drug-related poisoning were included. This number comprised 2.2‰ of all emergency submissions. Among all, 80.9% were between 0-6 years of age. In 85.2% of cases, the drugs were ingested by accidentally and in 14.8% for suicidal purposes. Drug ingestion by accident was more frequent in boys and in children under the age of 6, while ingestion for suicidal purposes was more common in girls and in children over 7 years of age. The most common drug poisonings were related to drugs affecting the central nervous system (36.9%). The 5.4% cases were admitted to the critical care unit and 0.8% died.

CONCLUSION

The study revealed that children of all ages could easily have access to drugs. Amitryptilin, an easy-to buy and low-cost drug was determined as the most common cause of drug-related poisonings.