Hastanemizdeki son 4 yıldaki zehirlenme vakalarının değerlendirilmesi

Aim: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the frequently seen cases of childhood poisoning. Methods: 162 pediatric patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of poisoning between 1998-2001 were evaluated retrospectively with respect to age, sex, the season which the intoxication took place, the time of referral to the hospital, the cause of intoxication, the way of taking the toxic agent, the procedures at the emergency room before admittance, the hospitalization period and outcome. Results: The age range of the cases was 1-13 years (2.99 ± 1.92) with male/ female ratio was 1.02. A peak incidence at the age was 1-4 years. The season when intoxication occured most frequently was summer (30.9 %) . The time between intoxication and coming to hospital was 3.8 ± 5 hours. 95.06% of the cases had taken the toxic agent orally. Mean hospitalization time was 2 ±1.73 days. The most common toxic agent was antipyretic drugs (22.8 %). Gastric lavage and activated charcoal have been applied to 63 % of the cases. 12.5 cases have been put under observation for follow up. None of the cases were died. Conclusion: The risk of death due to accidental poisoning in young children will be decreased with increased product safety measures (e.g., child-resistant packaging ), increased poison prevention education of the family and the children, and improvements in medical management.