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Abstract
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Acute intoxication in children. Epidemiological study of 203 cases of the Pediatric Department of the Hospital Senhora da Oliveira - Guimaraes Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterize the epidemiology of acute intoxications (AI) admitted in a Pediatric Department of a district hospital in the north of Portugal.
METHODS: Descriptive and retrospective study of the clinical records of the 203 children younger than 15 years admitted in the Pediatrics Department of a district hospital in the north of Portugal between November 1, 1992 and December 31, 1994 with the diagnosis of AI.
RESULTS: The children were older than one month and younger than 15 years. 65% were older than one year and younger than five years. 57.1% were males and 42.9% females. About distribution along the time (week and year) there wasn't any clear tendency. 93.1% of the Al were accidental, 5.4% were iatrogenic and 2.5% were suicide attempts. Drugs caused 42.4% of the Al and non-drug toxics 38.4%. Within drug intoxications 24.4% of the cases were caused by the group of the benzodiazepines and 7.4% by oxatomide isolatedly. In relation to non-drug toxics alcohol comes first (37.2%) followed by caustic substances (23.1%). Three per cent of the children had previous intoxication. Ataxy, drowsiness and vomiting were the most common clinical manifestations, 0.99% of the cases needed to be transferred to Central Hospitals. No obits occurred.
CONCLUSIONS: The greatest incidence occurred in the boys whose age was comprised between one and four years. The majority of the Al were accidental. Drugs caused more Al than non-drug toxics. The number of cases of Al caused by oxatomide was out of proportion when compared with other studies.
Language: pt |