Childhood accidental poisoning among hospitalised children in a tertiary health care in North Central Nigeria - A two year prospective report

Background: The young child can be at risk of accidental poisoning because of its being very inquisitive to mouth objects. The prevalence and typesof poisoning vary within Nigeria and different parts of the world. Aim: To describe the sociodemographics, clinical features and outcome in childhood poisoning seen at the National hospital Abuja (NHA) Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive prospective study on children admitted for acute poisoning from September 2014 -August 2016. Consecutive children with a history of poisoning were recruited during the study period. The children were examined, and poison severity scores were recorded into a proforma, and followed up till discharge or demise. Results: Twenty-two children were admitted for acute poisoning, out of the 2336 children seen during the study period, with a prevalence rate of 0.94%. Fourteen (63.6%) were of upper social class, with 12 (54. 5%) mothers having tertiary level education. The mean time (±SD) of presentation was 11.9 ± 23.9 hours, while the mean (SD) duration of hospital stay was 4.8 ± 6.2 days; hospital stay was significant with types of poisoning (Fisher exact test 22.062, p<0.0001). The common poisoning agents were kerosene and organophosphate, 8(36.4%) each, while main clinical features were  cough in 8 (36.4%), tachypnoea in 7(31.8%), fever in 6 (27.3%) and 8(36.4%) had home intervention. Two (9.1%) and 4(18.2%) had poison severity  scores (PSS) of 3 and 4 respectively, which was significant for time interval of presentation and use of harmful home intervention (Fisher exact test3.697, p=0.024) and (Fisher exact test10.04, p=0.018) respectively. Fatality was 18.2%. Conclusion: kerosene and organophosphate were most common poison agents, while PSS was related to time of presentation, home intervention and types of poisoning agents. Key words: childhood, poisoning, hospitalized, outcome.