title: Acute Poisoning in Children in Bahia, Brazil.
abstract: Acute poisoning is a frequent accident in childhood, particularly in children under 4 years of age. This was a descriptive study with data collected from standardized forms of the Poison Control Center and patient record charts. All the cases of acute poisoning in children aged 0 to 14 years during the period 2008 to 2012 were selected. The variables studied comprised characteristics of the events and toxic agents, clinical development, and outcome. A total of 657 cases of acute poisoning, with higher frequency in the age-group from 1 to 4 years (48.7%) and male sex (53.4%), were recorded. The occurrences were accidental in 92% of the cases, and 5.8% were due to suicide attempts. Among the toxic agents, medications (28.5%), venomous animals (19.3%), nonvenomous animals (10%), household cleaning products (9.0%), and raticide agents (8.7%) predominated. The majority of cases were characterized as light (73.5%) and around 18% required hospitalization, and there was low lethality (0.5%).
authors.affiliation: Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saude Publica, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Dilton
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodrigues Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saude Publica, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marta Silva
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.affiliation: Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saude Publica, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcos Antônio Almeida
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.affiliation: Centro Antiveneno da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel Santos
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Rebouças
authors.affiliation: Centro Antiveneno da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jucelino Nery da Conceição
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Filho
authors.affiliation: Hospital Geral Roberto Santos, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Reginara Souza
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: de Assis
authors.affiliation: Hospital Geral Roberto Santos, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carneiro
keywords: adolescent medicine; allergy/immunology; critical care; general pediatrics; medical education