Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 323 poisoning cases aged between 9 months-18 years (7.8 ± 3.4 years) who were admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Department of Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Hospital between January 1999 and December 2001 were reviewed. The ratio of the number of poisoning cases to all pediatric emergency admissions was 1.8%. One hundred and seventy-one of the cases (52.9%) were females and 152 (47.1%) were males; 48.9%of them were between the ages of 13 months and 4 years, and 24.1% were between the ages of 12-17 years. Accidental poisoning occurred most commonly (85.8%), followed by suicidal (13.9%) and iatrogenic poisoning (0.3%). All of the suicidal cases were between the ages of 12-17 years. The most frequent poisoning agents were drugs (45.2%), caustic/corrosive substances (16.7%), insecticides and pesticides (11.5%), CO (8.7%), hydrocarbons (5.6%) and foods (5.6%). Analgesic and antipyretic, antidepressant, and sedative-hypnotic-anxiolytic agent ingestions were the most common causes among drug poisonings. The most frequent findings were nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, hyperemia in oral mucosa, headache, irritability, and coma, in order of frequency. The mortality rate was 0.6%. We believe that our study showing the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of childhood poisonings in our region will determine the strategy for preventive measures.

Keywords: zehirlenme, çocukluk çağı, epidemiyoloji, Eskişehir