Pediatric Medication Poisoning on the Rise

More kids are showing up in hospital emergency rooms because of accidental poisoning from medication, according to a study from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Over half a million children are exposed to pharmaceuticals each year.

“The problem of pediatric medication poisoning is getting worse, not better,” says Dr. Randall Bond, medical director of the Drug and Poison Information Center at Cincinnati Children’s. “More children are exposed, more are seen in emergency departments, more are admitted to hospitals, and more are harmed each year.”

Dr. Bond’s study revealed that exposure to prescription products accounted for most of the emergency visits (55 percent), admissions (76 percent) and significant harm (71 percent). The biggest impact came from opioid-containing pain medications like oxycodone, morphine, and codeine; sedative hypnotics like muscle relaxants and sleep aids; and cardiovascular medications.

The largest part of increasing admissions, injuries, and death was due to children finding and ingesting medication on their own. Therapeutic errors were minimal. The most likely explanation for these trends is a rise in the number of medications around small children, say study authors. A 1998-99 survey found that half of adults had taken at least one prescription medication in the preceding week and seven percent had taken five or more. In 2006, the same surveyors found that 55 percent had taken at least one prescription medication in the preceding week and 11 percent had taken five or more.

“Prevention efforts at home have been insufficient,” said Dr. Bond in a press release. “We need to improve storage devices and child-resistant closures and perhaps require mechanical barriers, such as blister packs. Our efforts can’t ignore society’s problem with opioid and sedative abuse or misuse … The largest potential benefit would come from packaging design changes that reduce the quantity a child could quickly and easily access in a self-ingestion episode, like flow restrictors on liquids and one-at-a-time tablet dispensing containers.”

For the study, Dr. Bond analyzed patient records from 2001 to 2008 in the National Poison Data system, an electronic database of all calls to members of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Dr. Bond studied 453,559 children five years old and younger who were exposed to a potentially toxic dose of a single pharmaceutical agent, either prescription or over-the-counter.

The problem of unintended medication overdoses in children has grown so much that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established the PROTECT Initiative, a collaboration among public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates and academic experts to keep children safe from unintentional medication overdoses.

More details of the study are published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Image copyright: istockphoto.com

Ann Pietrangelo is the author of “No More Secs! Living, Laughing & Loving Despite Multiple Sclerosis.” She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and a regular contributor to Care2 Healthy & Green Living and Care2 Causes. Follow on Twitter @AnnPietrangelo

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Doug G.

4:20PM PDT on Oct 15, 2011

Not surprising in such a pill pushing society.

send a green star

Melinda offline K.

6:07PM PDT on Sep 24, 2011

I read a report that they think paracetamol use in young children is linked to childhood asthma and excema - this was a medical report! I have heard from one parent who gives her kids a shot of juice of fruits and vegies before school, made up from their juicer and the kids dont get sick, and if they do she takes them to a herbalist because herbs strengthen organs as well as treat symptoms. And, there are no side effects. her kids never had pharmaceuticals and ate organic simple diet and they are so health as adults now.

Debbie L.

10:00AM PDT on Sep 23, 2011

There's also the problem with parents giving their children too much medicine for little things that don't need it. I'm sure some people give medicine when they can heal or make them feel better with a natural alternative.

Julianna D.

2:16AM PDT on Sep 22, 2011

I have no small children, but someday I'll adopt- and my home will be childproofed accordingly!!

Alicia N.

12:04PM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

People please take care of your little ones and that includes your pets as well.

Christa L.

10:16AM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

ColleenP., garlic is a natural antibiotic. Do you know that if you eat some fresh garlic daily, you won't have to take a flu shot? Also will protect you from colds. If you don't like the taste or smell of garlic you can take "Kyolic" brand garlic pills.

I don't have any small children and I don't take prescription drugs. When Americans get off drugs (both legal and illegal), we will be much healthier, just look at the side effects, they are worse than the ailment. Eat a healthy vegan diet and stay away from processed food and you don't need any drugs.

Why is our first inclination to ask the government to solve this? It's the parent's responsibility, they need to teach their kids to leave that stuff alone. I think kids are perfectly capable of learning that there are some things that are NOT for children.

Marie W.

10:03PM PDT on Sep 20, 2011

Locked medicine cabinet.

Karen C.

5:08PM PDT on Sep 20, 2011

Keep all your meds out of reach and apart from other things. My partner got our kids panadol mixed up with an oil for our vapouriser the other day. The bottles looked soooo similar. We ended up in hospital but our boy is o.k now. A very scary lesson for us to learn.

Steven B.

3:04PM PDT on Sep 20, 2011

I do not have children, nos small visitors. I say it is parents neglect.

Lin M.

1:44PM PDT on Sep 20, 2011

Keep meds up out of reach, lock them up if you have too.