Evaluation of Pediatric Patients Admitted to the Emergency Department Due to Drug Intoxication

Abstract

INTRODUCTION  Pediatric intoxication cases are one of the important emergency room admissions. Early diagnosis and treatment are important in reducing morbidity and mortality. The prevalence and exposure types of pediatric intoxications have social and regional differences. In this study, we aimed to retrospectively analyze the demographic and epidemiological characteristics, clinical course, and prognosis of patients admitted to our Emergency Medicine Clinic due to poisoning. Materials and Methods: In our study, the files of patients under 18 who were considered drug intoxicated and admitted to the ED were scanned retrospectively between 01.01.2018 and 31.12.2019. The cases were grouped as preschool (0-4 years old), school-age (4-12 years old), and adolescent (12-18 years old). The relationship between the frequency of emergency admissions of the patients, the variety of active ingredients, the amount taken, the need for hospitalization according to the active ingredients, admission times, arrival time to the emergency room, age, and gender were analyzed. RESULTS  When the distributions by age groups are examined, most of the patients constitute the two-year-old (22%). Besides, it was found that among the age groups, there were more girls than boys in the 12-18 age group. A statistically significant difference was found between the frequency of active substance intake and gender differences according to age groups (p <0.001, p <0.001, respectively). However, no statistically significant relationship was found between age groups and seasonal admission frequencies (p = 0.055). CONCLUSIONS  Our study found a statistically significant difference in the amount of active substance taken or exposed to by age groups and gender. However, this finding does not explain the effect of active substance intake or exposure and gender on mortality and morbidity, probably due to the limited sample size.