Accidental Medication Poisonings in Kids on the Rise (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 (HealthDay News) — Despite ongoing prevention
efforts, a growing number of young children are being accidentally
poisoned with medications, according to new research.

The study, which was based on data reported to the American Association
of Poison Control Centers between 2001 and 2008, found that medication
poisoning among children aged 5 and under increased by 22 percent,
although the number of children in the United States in this age group
rose by only 8 percent during the study period.

“The problem of pediatric poisoning in the U.S. is getting worse, not
better,” Dr. Randall Bond, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical
Center, said in a hospital news release.

In conducting the study, which is scheduled for publication in the
Journal of Pediatrics, the researchers reviewed information on over
544,000 children who landed in the emergency department due to medication
poisoning over the course of the seven-year study period.

The vast majority (95 percent) of emergency department visits were the
result of self-ingestion (the kids took the medicine themselves by
accident), the investigators found. Prescription drugs were involved in 55
percent of the emergency visits, 76 percent of the hospitalizations and 71
percent of significant injuries.

Opioid-containing pain medications (such as morphine, codeine and
oxycodone), as well as muscle relaxants, sleeping pills and heart
medications had the biggest impact, the study authors noted in the news
release.

The researchers suggested that the reason for the trend is likely due
to greater availability and easier access to medications in children’s
homes. They also noted that “poison-proofing” efforts, such as safe guards
on packaging and child-proofing in the home, may have declined in recent
years.

“Prevention efforts of parents and caregivers to store medicines in
locked cabinets or up and away from children continue to be crucial.
However, 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,” said Bond.

He added that these types of changes should apply to both pediatric and
adult prescription and over-the-counter medications.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advice on how
to protect children from accidental poisoning.