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Abstract
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Thousands of children and adolescents seek care each year in paediatric emergency departments in Spain following exposure to potentially toxic substances,1 adding to others that seek care in primary care or urgent care clinics and call the toxicologic emergency line of the Instituto Nacional de Toxicología (National Toxicology Institute) of Spain.
Broadly speaking, there are 5 types of toxic substance exposures in paediatric patients.1 Two are characteristic of young children, 2 of older children and adolescents, and the last one of any age. Each has its own epidemiological characteristics that affect both the management of episodes and their prevention.
The most frequent type managed in paediatric emergency departments is unintentional ingestion of medication (most frequently benzodiazepines) and dosing errors (especially involving paracetamol). It usually happens in the home and is most frequent in children about 2 years of age, while associated fatalities are most frequent in children younger than 1 year. Outcomes tend to be good, as the ingested amount is usually small and the delay in seeking medical care short. However, some substances are toxic in very small amounts. In the current issue of Anales de Pediatría, Colom et al. warn us of the enduring problem of unintentional poisoning with cough and cold medication.2 As the authors noted insightfully, these are drugs that have not been found to be useful in scientific research and, in some cases, can cause severe or even fatal poisoning. Paediatricians need to take this into account when prescribing these medications. It is important to remember, even as the associated mortality decreases, that poisonings constitute the fifth leading cause of death due to unintentional injury in the European region of the World Health Organization, although Spain is in the group of countries with the lowest frequencies.
The second type of poisoning corresponds to the unintentional ingestion of household chemicals (chiefly detergents and caustic substances) and cosmetic products. This type is more frequent in children aged less than 2 years...
Language: en |