International Epidemiological Differences in Acute Poisonings in Pediatric Emergency Departments

Abstract

Background and Objective: Identifying international differences in the epidemiology of acute poisonings in children may help in improving prevention. We sought to evaluate the international epidemiological differences in acute poisonings in children presenting to emergency departments (EDs) from 8 different global regions. Methods: This was an international multicenter cross-sectional prospective study including children younger than 18 years with acute poisonings presenting to 105 EDs in 20 countries was conducted. Data collection started at each ED between January and September 2013, and continued for 1 year. Results: During the study period, we registered 363,245 pediatric ED presentation..