Analysis of Pediatric Patients Presenting to a Reference Child Hospital with Complaint of Poisoning

Objective: Although it has different mortality and morbidity rates all over the world, childhood poisoning has an important place among childhood health problems. Considering increase in health expenditures, duration of hospital stay and loss of labor caused by poisonings, the problem has not only medical but also social aspects. Method: In addition to demographic data of 1043 pediatric patients admitted to our hospital with complaints of poisoning, pre-admission intervention, place of poisoning, admission time, agent and time of poisoning, time elapsed after poisoning, admission findings, hospitalization period, diagnostic tests applied and treatment modalities were evaluated retrospectively with their prognosis. Results: Of the 1043 cases, 54.5% were female. Female ratio increased to 82% in 139 cases of suicide. When the causes of poisoning were examined, they occurred due to use of pharmaceutical agents drugs (47.2%), industrial (41.5%), and agricultural products (5.4%), CO (2.7%), foods (2.6%), unknown factors (0.5%), and animal bites (0.2%). Gastric-lavage, activated-charcoal, intravenous-fluid regimen (33%) were the most common treatment modalities. Two of the three mortal cases were due to colchicine, and the third one was caused by CO poisoning. Conclusion: Although the development in the diagnosis and treatment of poisonings is pleasing, the most accurate approach to this issue will be to increase the protective measures. In addition to these standard measures, each country should set priorities in line with its own epidemiological study. Regarding the higher mortality rate (22%) we may suggest that clinicians should be more careful and aggressive in the diagnosis and treatment of colchicine intoxications, which can be associated with mortality even at low doses.