title: Aluminum phosphide (celphos) poisoning in children: A 5-year experience in a tertiary care hospital from northern India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aluminum phosphide (ALP) (celphos) is an agricultural pesticide commonly implicated in poisoning. Literature pertaining to the clinical manifestations and treatment outcome of its poisoning among children is limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective chart review was conducted of the medical records of 30 children aged less than 14 years admitted to pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of a tertiary care hospital in northern India. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters were recorded. The outcome was categorized into "survivors" and "nonsurvivors."
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Mean (SD) age of the enrolled children [19 males (63.3%)] was 8.55 (3.07) years. Among the 30 children, 14 (46.67%) were nonsurvivors and the rest 16 (53.33%) were survivors. Nonsurvivors had ingested significantly higher doses of ALP (P < 0.001), and showed higher time lag to PICU transfer (P 0.031), presence of abnormal radiological findings on chest skiagram (P = 0.007), and a higher Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) III score (P < 0.001) at admission. Use of magnesium sulfate was associated significantly with survival [odds ratio (OR) (95% CI): 0.11 (0.02-0.66); P 0.016].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study highlights that survival among children with ALP poisoning is predicted by dose of ALP ingestion, time lag to medical attention, and higher PRISM score at admission. Use of magnesium sulfate could be associated with better survival among them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pt B. D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Anupama
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pt B. D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.lastname: Dishant
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pt B. D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pt B. D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Jaya Shankar
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kaushik
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pt B. D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Kundan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mittal
keywords: Magnesium sulfate; mortality; pediatric intensive care