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110043

Pattern of Unintentional Poisoning by Substances of Abuse among Children under 6 Years Old presented to the Poison Control Center of Ain Shams University Hospitals, Egypt: A Retrospective Study

Article

Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

Subjects

-

Tags

• Clinical toxicology

Abstract

Background: Unintentional poisoning by substances of abuse in children is a rare type of acute poisoning but recently, it has been increased in many countries. Low dose of these substances can be fatal for children under 6 years old resulting in severe morbidity and mortality if it is not timely diagnosed and properly managed. Aim :this study was aimed to describe the pattern of unintentional poisoning by substances of abuse among children below 6 years old who were presented to the Poison Control Center of Ain Shams University Hospitals (PCC-ASUH), Egypt during a 4 -year period (2014-2017). Material and methods: A retrospective study was performed on all infants and children aged less than 6 years old with unintentional poisoning by substances of abuse presented to the PCC-ASUH during the four years period (2014-2017). The data were collected and included: demographic, poisoning and clinical data. Treatment given to the patients, length of hospital stays as well as outcome of patients were also recorded. Results: During the studied period (2014- 2017), there were 436 children below 6 years old with unintentional poisoning by substances of abuse. Children from 1 to 2 years old were the most vulnerable age group to unintentional poisoning with substances of abuse (64%), the majority were males (58%), most of them were from Cairo (61%). The most common substance of abuse unintentionally ingested among studied children was cannabis (64%), followed by tramadol (33.5%) and opium (2.5%). Loss of consciousness was the most common recorded symptom among children (80%). Most of the patients were admitted to the inpatient unit (60%) while 30% of cases were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There were 9 deaths (2%): eight children were intoxicated with tramadol and one child with opium poisoning. Conclusion: This study concluded that unintentional poisoning by substances of abuse in children is a life threatening condition and clinicians should consider it if any child presented to the ER with sudden onset of coma without any history of fever or primary illness. The most frequent unintentionally ingested substance of abuse among children was cannabis followed by tramadol.

DOI

10.21608/ejfsat.2020.20334.1115

Keywords

Poisoning, Substance abuse, children, Egypt

Authors

First Name

Rania

Last Name

Hussien

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Forensic medicine and clinical toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University

Email

raniahussien@med.asu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0002-9101-2474

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Essam

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Armed Forces College of Medicine, Egypt

Email

imag35030@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Abdallah

Last Name

El Kholy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Armed Forces College of Medicine, Egypt

Email

abdallaelkholy2162@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mahmoud

Last Name

Sedki

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Armed Forces College of Medicine, Egypt

Email

mahmoudsedki25@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Abd El Naby

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Armed Forces College of Medicine, Egypt

Email

altiger2095@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

20

Article Issue

3

Related Issue

16697

Issue Date

2020-09-01

Receive Date

2019-12-01

Publish Date

2020-09-01

Page Start

1

Page End

11

Print ISSN

1687-0875

Online ISSN

2535-1915

Link

https://ejfsat.journals.ekb.eg/article_110043.html

Detail API

https://ejfsat.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=110043

Order

1

Type

Original Article

Type Code

429

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences and Applied Toxicology

Publication Link

https://ejfsat.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

-

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023