ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographic characteristics, role of family factors, etiology and the factors affecting the prognosis in children who had been admitted to our hospital between 04 August 2007 and 24 January 2009 due to intoxication and, based on these data, to determine the preventive measures that can be taken.

One hundred and one children (61 girls and 33 boys) were included in the study. Patient age and sex, manner of poisoning, time between ingestion of poison and hospital admission, and attitudes and behaviors of families were recorded.

The poisoned patients represented 1.23%of all pediatric emergency admissions. The mean age of the patients was 6.75±5.30 years (range: 2-16). Self-poisoning was detected in 49 cases and 52 cases were accidental poisoning. It was seen that adolescent over 12 years of age were more prone to suicidal poisoning and children aged 2-6 years were more susceptible to accidental poisoning. Paracetamol (13.8%) and amitriptyline (10.7%) were the most common drugs.

Although there are important improvements in the management of intoxication,family education and preventive measurements are of great importance.