Epidemiology of children poisoning: comparison between telephone inquiries and emergency room visits.
We studied 674 telephone inquiries to the Poison Information Centre and 532 Emergency Room (ER) visits due to suspected poisonings in 1018 children below the age of 16 y and living at Trieste. The cases were prospectively recorded during 1985-1989. Age distribution, toxic substances and consequences were different in the 2 groups. Telephone inquiries concerned children below the age of 5 y more frequently, and most of the exposures were assessed as non-toxic. Among children admitted to the hospital ER, 22.2% were more than 10-y old, and of these 79.7% were confirmed poisonings. This study demonstrated the need to take account of both Poison Control Centre and ER data to get reliable information on the occurrence of poisonings in children.
Marchi
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Servizio di Pronto Soccorso, IRCCS Istituto per l'Infanzia, Trieste, Italy.
Messi
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Renier
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D000293:Adolescent; D002424:Caustics / Q000506:poisoning*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003358:Cosmetics / Q000506:poisoning*; D003902:Detergents / Q000506:poisoning*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015277:Hotlines / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies
D002424:Caustics; D003358:Cosmetics; D003902:Detergents