Epidemiology

Poison centres in the US received more than 2 million human exposure calls in 2021.[1][2]​ Over 40% of these were related to children aged ≤5 years. Children aged <20 years accounted for about 56% of reported exposures and just over 7.5% of reported fatalities.[2] The five most commonly reported toxic exposures in children aged <5 years were cosmetics/personal care products, household cleaning substances, analgesics, dietary substances/herbals/homeopathics, and foreign bodies/toys/miscellaneous.[2] In contrast, when looking at all age groups, the five most commonly reported exposures in 2021 to US poison centres were analgesics, household cleaning substances, cosmetics/personal care products, antidepressants, and sedatives/hypnotics/antipsychotics.[1]​​

In other countries, reported toxic ingestion is commonly due to herbicides,​​ pesticides,​​ and hydrocarbons.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

In a north Indian study, acute poisoning was most commonly due to the ingestion of kerosene (27.9%), drugs (19.8%), and insecticides (11.7%). The majority of these patients presenting with acute poisoning (63.9%) were in the 1-3 year age group. Males outnumbered females by a factor of 2, and almost all (96.9%) ingestions were accidental in nature.[8] In a study carried out in Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2001 to December 2005, kerosene oil (88%) was found to be the most commonly ingested hydrocarbon. The ingestion of kerosene oil was predominant in males (79%). The majority of children (54%) were between 2 and 5 years old. Socio-economically, 71% of children belonged to the lower middle class. Children with large family size (3 or more siblings/family) were more commonly affected.[7]

One study in Taiwan found 71.2% of acute poisonings involved children aged <5 years. Pharmaceuticals (41.4%) and pesticides (9.5%) were the most common exposures.[9]

In a study of fatal poisonings in Australia between 2003 and 2013, acute poisoning death was most common in children aged 0-4 years (26.7%) and 13-16 years (58.9%); 61.1% of cases were unintentional and 17.8% were intentional self-harm.[10]

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