Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

Abstract

Pattern of Pediatric Toxicity in Saudi Arabia-Eastern Province (Incidence, Demographics and Predisposing Factors)

Ahmed Refat Ragab and Maha Khalid Al-Mazroua

Childhood poisoning is a major cause of morbidity in both developing and developed countries. In spite of the success of some interventions to prevent accidental poisoning in the pediatric population, toxic ingestions continue to be a common occurrence. The purpose of this study was to shed light on the problem of accidental poisoning among children, to determine the factors related to accidental poisoning by the most common medications and household agents in poisoned patients who were visited a pediatric ER department. A prospective study was conducted in the period from January 2011 until December 2013 at the Dammam Maternal and Child Hospital. The studied children were a mix of boys and girls, did not suffer from any mental disabilities, were aged below 15 years old, and were of variable nationalities. The findings of the study demonstrated that the most common toxic presentation in the reported cases were medications toxicity exposure (63.2%) followed by pesticides toxic exposures (16.3%). Acetaminophen exposure represents the most common toxic forum of medication exposures (27.6%). Age from 1-7 year is the most common vulnerable age of toxicity (74.8%). The most common pharmaceutical preparation involved in the toxic presentation was tablets and syrup forum 41.7% and 20.7% respectively. From the studied cases 64.5% of the reported cases were asymptomatic toxic presentation, and on the opposite site 6% were suffered from acute severe consciousness disturbance “Glasgow Coma Scale was less than 8”. Effective health promotion programs for parents and careers regarding poisoning hazards are needed to increase awareness and reduce the incidence of poisoning among children.