Causes of Acute Poisoning and Their Prevention in Children

Objective To explore the causes of acute poisoning in children and search the preventive measures.Methods The clinical data of 148 children with acute poisoning who were treated in our center from January 2004 to June 2010 were retrospectively analyzed.Results Of these 148 patients,acute poisoning was most common in the 1 to 3 years age group(n=53,53.4%).Drug administration errors(especially overdose) was the main cause(n=89,60.1%).Most poisoning occurred in the digestive system(n=112,75.6%).The main symptoms included nausea/vomiting(n=77,52.0%) and agitation/delirium(n=48,32.4%).Three patients(2.0%) died.Conclusion The incidence of acute poisoning can be high among pre-school children.Since drug administration errors are the major cause of acute poisoning,it is important to enhance drug management to prevent acute poisoning events in children.