engleski

Unintentional exposures of preschool children to nonsteroidal anti- inflammatory drugs and analgesics

Aim of the study was to characterize unintentional exposures of preschool children to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and non-opioid analgetics, with purpose of guiding future preventive actions. Study analyzed data records collected by Croatian Poison Control Centre (CPCC) and Children’s Hospital Zagreb (CHZ) for the period 2009-2019. In total there were 466 cases (411 CPCC and 55 CHZ) of mono-ingestions by children aged 0-5 years. Median age was 2.5 years, of which 53% were boys. The most frequent drug ingested was ibuprofen (47%), followed by paracetamol (19%), ketoprofen (15%) and diclofenac (11%). The study outcomes indicating the greatest preventive potential are following: 1) In 94% of all cases unsupervised child had access to drug, indicating that more effort is required in educating parents on safe home storage of medications ; 2) According to CPCC data, share of calls related to unintentional exposures of preschool children to NSAIDs and non- opioid analgetics in total calls grew from 2% to 27% yearly between 2009 and 2019 respectively, indicating increasing importance of CPCC role in pre-hospital patient disposition ; 3) Gastric lavage was performed in 11% of cases treated in healthcare facilities (the subsample was obtained by pooling 344 CPCC cases reported by healthcare professional and 55 CHZ cases). Healthcare professionals should be encouraged to use PCC service for risk assessment and toxicological consultation to prevent unnecessary medical procedures.

non-opioid analgetics ; NSAIDs ; poison control centre ; preschool ; prevention

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