Prevention of childhood poisoning in the home: overview of systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies

Unintentional poisoning is a significant child public health problem. This systematic overview of reviews, supplemented with a systematic review of recently published primary studies synthesizes evidence on non-legislative interventions to reduce childhood poisonings in the home with particular refe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of injury control and safety promotion 2016-01, Vol.23 (1), p.3-28
Main Authors: Wynn, Persephone M., Zou, Kun, Young, Ben, Majsak-Newman, Gosia, Hawkins, Adrian, Kay, Bryony, Mhizha-Murira, Jacqueline, Kendrick, Denise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Home - prevention & control
Child
childhood
Children
Education
home
Humans
Literature reviews
Poisoning
Poisoning - prevention & control
Prevention
Public health
Reviews
Storage
Systematic review
unintentional injuries
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Summary:Unintentional poisoning is a significant child public health problem. This systematic overview of reviews, supplemented with a systematic review of recently published primary studies synthesizes evidence on non-legislative interventions to reduce childhood poisonings in the home with particular reference to interventions that could be implemented by Children's Centres in England or community health or social care services in other high income countries. Thirteen systematic reviews, two meta-analyses and 47 primary studies were identified. The interventions most commonly comprised education, provision of cupboard/drawer locks, and poison control centre (PCC) number stickers. Meta-analyses and primary studies provided evidence that interventions improved poison prevention practices. Twenty eight per cent of studies reporting safe medicine storage (OR from meta-analysis 1.57, 95% CI 1.22-2.02), 23% reporting safe storage of other products (OR from meta-analysis 1.63, 95% CI 1.22-2.17) and 46% reporting availability of PCC numbers (OR from meta-analysis 3.67, 95% CI 1.84-7.33) demonstrated significant effects favouring the intervention group. There was a lack of evidence that interventions reduced poisoning rates. Parents should be provided with poison prevention education, cupboard/drawer locks and emergency contact numbers to use in the event of a poisoning. Further research is required to determine whether improving poison prevention practices reduces poisoning rates.
ISSN:1745-7300
1745-7319
DOI:10.1080/17457300.2015.1032978