GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: AHRQ Patient Safety Network ► Emergency hospitalizations for unsupervised prescription medication ingestions by young children.

domingo, 12 de octubre de 2014

AHRQ Patient Safety Network ► Emergency hospitalizations for unsupervised prescription medication ingestions by young children.

AHRQ Patient Safety Network

About 10,000 children under age 6 (the majority age 1–2) are hospitalized each year in the US following an accidental ingestion.
Pediatrics. 2014;134:e1009-e1016.

Emergency hospitalizations for unsupervised prescription medication ingestions by young children.

Lovegrove MC, Mathew J, Hampp C, Governale L, Wysowski DK, Budnitz DS. Pediatrics. 2014;134:e1009-e1016.

Accidental ingestions of prescription medications by children pose serious safety risks. Prior efforts to mitigate this hazard include child-resistant packaging and public education about safe storage. This study used large databases to estimate that approximately 10,000 children under age 6 are emergently hospitalized following an accidental ingestion annually in the United States. Three-quarters of these events involved 1- or 2-year-old children. Opioids and benzodiazepines were the most common culprits, and 12 active ingredients accounted for nearly half of the hospitalizations. These findings suggest that strategies to specifically target a select group ofhigh-risk medications could have a substantial impact on serious adverse drug events related to accidental ingestions.

PubMed citation