Retrospective Evaluation of Intoxication Cases Followed in Pediatric Intensive Care: A 5-Year Experience

Abstract

Introduction: This study was designed to investigate the demographic, epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of casesadmitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with a diagnosis of intoxication.Methods: Inpatient intoxication cases who were treated in the PICU between May 2015 and May 2020 were analyzed ret-rospectively.Results: A total of 86 patients were included in the study. The average age was 10.8 ± 6.4 years and 53.5% of the cases wereaged between 13-18 years. In terms of gender, 48.8% of the cases were male. Almost half of the (53.5%) intoxications oc-curred due to attempted suicide, 39.6% were accidental, 4.6% were due to substance abuse and 2.3% were due to incorrectdrug dosage. Pharmaceutical agents were responsible for intoxication in the majority (79.1%) of patients, and among these,central nervous system (CNS) drugs were the most common (41.8%). Carbon monoxide poisoning was the most commonnonpharmaceutical agent cause (8.1%). The agents that caused the intoxication were taken orally in 91.8% of cases. Theaverage time from consumption to admission was 239±423.9 minutes. Gastric lavage was applied to 41.9% of the casesand activated charcoal was applied to 44.1%. Mechanical ventilation support was given to 32.6% of the patients. The mostcommon findings were CNS symptoms (in 54.6% of patients). The mean length of stay (LOS) in PICU was 4.3±6.7 days andLOS in the hospital was 5.8±7.1 days. Mortality rate was 1.2%.Discussion and Conclusion: Knowing the epidemiology of intoxication is of great importance for rapid and correct treat-ment. Multicenter comprehensive studies are needed to reveal risk factors related to mortality.