A profile of unintentional poisoning caused by household cleaning products, disinfectants and pesticides

Unintentional poisoning occurred mainly among children. The leading cause of such poisoning in Brazil, among consumer products was household cleaning products. For this study 2810 calls made to two poison control centers in the State of Rio de Janeiro between January 2000 and December 2002 were anal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cadernos de saúde pública 2008-12, Vol.24 (12), p.2901-2908
Main Authors: Presgrave, Rosaura de Farias, Camacho, Luiz Antônio Bastos, Villas Boas, Maria Helena Simões
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Home - statistics & numerical data
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Brazil - epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Disinfectants - poisoning
Female
Household Products - poisoning
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Middle Aged
Pesticides - poisoning
Poisoning - epidemiology
PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Young Adult
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Summary:Unintentional poisoning occurred mainly among children. The leading cause of such poisoning in Brazil, among consumer products was household cleaning products. For this study 2810 calls made to two poison control centers in the State of Rio de Janeiro between January 2000 and December 2002 were analyzed. Children under five were the most vulnerable group. More boys under 10 suffered accidental poisoning than girls, although above this age, the distribution was inverted. The calls received by poison control centers were mainly from health services within the first two hours following poisoning. The most frequent exposure routes were ingestion (90.4%), followed by inhalation (4.3%), skin and eye contact (2.4% and 2% respectively). The products involved were bleach, petroleum derivates, rodenticides and pesticides. The main causes were products within the children's reach, storage in soft drink bottles, food mixed with rodenticides, incorrect product use, and kitchen utensils used for measured cleaning products. The most common outcome was that the patient was cured, although a lot of cases were lost to follow-up. Education programs are necessary in order to avoid these poisonings.
ISSN:0102-311X
1678-4464
1678-4464
0102-311X
DOI:10.1590/S0102-311X2008001200019