Analysis of clinical characteristics and prognosis factors in children with acute gastrointestinal poisoning

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics in children with digestive tract poisoning in emergency department and discuss the measures of prevention and treatment. Methods Four hundred and seventy-three cases with digestive tract poisoning who visited the emergency department of Zhengzhou Children′s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed from January 2015 to December 2017.The ages, toxic poisoning causes, types, clinical features, laboratory examinations, hospitalization expenses and outcomes were analyzed.They were divided into drug poisoning and non-drug poisoning group to compare. Results There were 317 (67.0%) cases aged 6 days to 3 years old, 133 (28.1%) cases aged 3 to 6 years old, 23 cases(4.9%)>6 years old.The incidence rate was similar in each season but slightly lower in winter.There were 462 (97.7%) cases of accidental poisoning, of which 377 (79.7%) cases were mistreated and 85 (18.0%) cases were mistakenly fed by parents, other 11 (2.3%) cases were non-accidental poisoning.Three hundreds and thirty-six (71.0%) cases were drug poisoning, and 137 (29.0%) cases were non-drug poisoning.Drug poisonings were higher in urban children than in rural children, the difference was statistically significant(χ2=7.037, P=0.008). The percentage of digestive symptoms and blood system symptoms in non-drug poisoning group were higher than those in drug poisoning group, and the differences were statistically significant(54.0% vs.8.3%, χ2=120.067, P 6h treating group, and the difference was all statistically significant(all P<0.05). Conclusion Children with acute gastrointestinal poisoning are mostly infants and preschoolers, mainly accidental poisoning, and often taken by mistake.Drug poisonings are mostly found in cities and non-drug poisonings in rural areas.Non-drug poisoning children have more serious damages and higher hospitalization costs than drug poisoning children.Early treatment after poisoning is an important factor to improve cure rate. Key words: Children; Digestivetract; Poisoning; Drug; Non-drug