TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Intentional paediatric poisoning presentations to emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic
JO  - Emergency medicine Australasia
A1  - Gatenby, Jennifer
A1  - Low, Gary Kk
A1  - Rahman, Muhammad Aziz
A1  - Salter, Mark
A1  - Bhurawala, Habib
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To characterise paediatric poisoning presentations to emergency departments (EDs) and determine if the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased intentional paediatric poisoning presentations. <br><br>METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of paediatric poisoning presentations to three EDs (Two regional and one metropolitan). Simple and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the association between COVID-19 and intentional poisoning events. In addition, we calculated the frequency with which patients reported various psychosocial risk factors as being an implicating factor in engaging in an intentional poisoning event. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 860 poisoning events met inclusion criteria during the study period (January 2018-October 2021), with 501 being intentional, and 359 unintentional. There was an increased proportion of intentional poisoning presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic (261 intentional and 218 unintentional in the pre-COVID-19 period vs 241 intentional and 140 unintentional during the COVID-19 period). In addition, we found a statistically significant association between intentional poisoning presentations and an initial COVID-19 lockdown (AOR 26.32, p <0.05). "The COVID-19 lockdown" or "COVID-19" were reported to be implicating factors for psychological stress by patients who presented with intentional poisonings during the COVID-19 pandemic. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Intentional paediatric poisoning presentations increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in our study population. These results may support an emerging body of evidence that the psychological strain of COVID-19 disproportionately impacts adolescent females.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1742-6731
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.14194
ID  - ref1
ER  -