TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Alcohol intoxication requiring hospital admission in children and adolescents: retrospective analysis at the University Children's Hospital in the Slovak Republic
JO  - Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.)
A1  - Kuzelová, Magdalena
A1  - Harárová, Anna
A1  - Ondriasová, E.
A1  - Wawruch, Martin
A1  - Riedel, Rudolf
A1  - Benedeková, Marta
A1  - Kovacs, Laszlo
A1  - Plaková, Silvia
SP  - 556
EP  - 561
VL  - 47
IS  - 6
N2  - BACKGROUND: Few epidemiological studies have investigated the problem of children and adolescents taken to hospital with acute alcohol intoxication. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of children and adolescents aged <or= 18 years hospitalized with alcohol intoxication alone in the University Children's Hospital in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, during the years 1996-2005 and compared their characteristics between the first and the second 5-year time periods. RESULTS: 537 patients (273 boys and 264 girls) were admitted to the hospital with intentional acute alcohol intoxication (1.5% of all admissions and 34.2% of all intoxications) between 1996 and 2005. The average age of the patients with alcohol intoxication presenting to hospital was 15.1 +/- 1.7 and the youngest were 9-year-old children. The proportion of children admitted with alcohol intoxication increased every year (R(2) = 0.935) (p < 0.001). The average blood alcohol concentration was 1.98 +/- 0.57 g/L, and it increased in 2001-2005 in relation to the previous 5 years (p < 0.001). The highest estimated alcohol concentration (4.39 g/L) was found in the blood of a 17-year-old boy. The mean poisoning severity score was 1.53 +/- 0.61 and had increased in line with blood alcohol concentration for the years 2001-2005 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this analysis emphasize the severity of underage alcohol consumption by young people in the Slovak Republic. Measures are needed to decrease alcohol abuse in children and adolescents.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1556-3650
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15563650903018611
ID  - ref1
ER  -