Abstrait

Profile of poisonings in children in south Kashmir, north India.

Bilal Najar*

Background: Pediatric poisoning is a common emergency worldwide. Routine surveillance is required for public health authorities and physicians to update strategies for prevention and management of pediatric poisoning. This study investigated the epidemiology of poisoning among children admitted to Pediatric ward. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study. Data were collected from patients under 12 years old presenting with poisoning at maternity and child care hospital Anantnag from March 2018 to April 2020. Demographic and etiological factors were retrospectively analysed by using spss 12 software. Results: The poisoned children 234 represented 1.6% of total pediatric admissions during the study period. included 127 males (54.27% ) and 107 females (45.72%). in the age group between 0 to 1 year male female ratio was 1.1:1. above 1 year age males and above 5 years males predominate 1.5:1 and 2.1:1 respectively. organ phosphorous poisonings is the most common type of poison (n=125, 53.41%), all the cases were unintentional poisoning. Home was the commonest place where poisonings took place (n=193, 82.47%). Most cases of poisonings presented in April (28.1%) followed by May (25.11%). Conclusion: Most poisonings occurred in young children, common in males, at home; by unintentional ingestion. Organ phosphorous poisoning was the most common type poisoning. This kind of information enables emergency department physicians to improve preparations for pediatric poisoning cases and allows public health authorities to sharpen the focus of poisoning preventive strategies