Objectives: This study aimed to determine the epidemiological differences between children and adult oral exposures in patients admitted to the busiest emergency department (ED) in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey.
Methods: The characteristics of 1950 patients were investigated retrospectively and in a cross-sectional manner in a two-year period.
Results: The ratio of poisoning exposures among all emergency admissions was 0.6%. Of these, 44.5% were children, and 54.4% were unintentional. The mortality rate was 0.1% and the rate of hospitalization was 14.9%. Among the children and adults, 50.3% and 29.5% were male, respectively. While the first two causes of exposures in both children and adults were licit drugs and foods, there were differences in other causes. Among causes, licit drugs and corrosive materials constituted the forefront in the 0-1 and 1-5-year age groups. In parasuicidal causes, the most common exposure was found to be licit drugs, followed by organophosphates. The most common cause of hospitalization was plants (60.5%). The hospitalization rate was found to be significantly high in males and unintentional exposures. The rate of admissions to the psychiatry polyclinic following exposure was 15%.
Conclusion: This study hereby presents the original findings as to predict the problems in exposures. The distribution of etiological agents and suicidal intent rate may differ among pediatric and adult population (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 50).