Epidemiological and sociocultural assessment of childhood poisonings

摘要

ObjectivesPoisoning occurring in childhood still continues to be an important public health issue. The aim of the study is to socio-demographically and clinically examine poisoning cases consulted to emergency department.MethodsThe findings of 121 patients between the ages of 1 month and 17 years consulting to the pediatric emergency department with the suspicion of poisoning were examined retrospectively in the study.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 6.60?±?5.70 (min-max: 0–17) years and 49.6% of the patients were male and 50.4% were female. The most common causes of poisoning were corrosive chemicals in 35 patients (28.9%), poisonous animals in 24 patient's (19.8%) and prescription medications in 24 patients (19.8%). While 103 (85.1%) of the cases were exposed to the factor accidently, 18 of the cases (14.9%) had attempted suicide. The mean monthly family income levels of accidently poisoned cases were significantly higher than those who attempted suicide (p?