| Abstract
Introduction
Children may be intentionally or unintentionally exposed to any substance. Substance poisoning is
one of the most important emergency interventions in children that cause a great number of deaths
each year. Regarding the importance of this issue and recent increase in number of poisoning cases, a
study with the aim of investigating cases of substance poisoning and factors involved in emerging
them was carried out in Children Hospital of Tabriz.
Materials and Methods
The present descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on hospitalized children with substance
poisoning diagnosis during two years. The data was collected through referring to patients’ case and
using demographic information questionnaire and symptoms checklist. The data was analyzed using
SPSS-13, descriptive statistics, t- test, chi- square and spearman tests.
Results
During two years, 97 children with the mean age of 48.6± 32.3 months were hospitalized due to
substance poisoning. 59.3% of the study population consisted of boys and 40.7% of girls. Drowsiness,
decreased level of consciousness, vomiting and pin point pupil were the most common symptoms
recorded in children. The relationship between the type of substance and parents’ addiction was
statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant relationship between intentional and
unintentional poisoning and parents’ addiction (P>0.05).
Conclusion
Non-specific package, unsafe keeping, and shortage of people’s knowledge are among the most
important factors involved in methadone poisoning in children. Delivering clear information about the
fatal effect of this drug on children by health- care personnel especially doctors seems be necessary. |