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Poisoning Statistics


Poisonings: The Local Picture
(Washington, DC metro area)

In 2008, the National Capital Poison Center provided consultations for 60,486 callers from the DC metro area.  Sixty-eight percent (41,225) were about people exposed to a poison. Other consultations involved pet poisonings (2,676) and information requests (16,585).  Some interesting facts include: 
  • Most of poison exposures (79%) were unintentional.  The Center also received calls about other types of poisonings: medication side effects, substance abuse, malicious poisonings, and suicide attempts. 
  • 16,585 people (27.4%) called for poison-related information. Their questions were about possible problems with medication interactions, pesticide use, workplace chemicals, the safety of specific medications while breast-feeding, and many more topics.
  • Half of poison exposures involved children younger than six, but the most serious cases occurred in adolescents and adults.
  • 53% of poison exposures involved medications; other exposures were to household or automotive products, plants, mushrooms, pesticides, animal bites and stings.
  • 78% of poison exposures involved people who swallowed a drug or poison. People were also poisoned by inhalation and through exposures to the skin or eyes.
  • 72% of poison exposures were managed over the phone and did not need medical treatment in a health care facility.

Ten Most Common Poison Exposures for
Young Children and Adults
National Capital Poison Center, 2008

Children < 6 Years

(20,108 Exposures)

Substance

No.

Cosmetics/personal care products

2,966

Pain relievers

1,867

Cleaning substances

1,827

Foreign bodies

1,674

Topical medicines

1,268

Vitamins

865

Antihistamines

773

Cough/cold medicines

722

Art and craft supplies

688

Plants and mushrooms

670

Adults 20 and Older

(15,438 Exposures)

Substance

No.

Pain relievers

2,701

Sedatives/hypnotics

2,073

Cleaning substances

1,375

Antidepressants

1,089

Cardiovascular drugs

1,078

Alcohols

998

Food products/food poisoning

716

Pesticides

673

Cosmetics/personal care products

609

Antimicrobials

599


 

 


Call Type by Location
National Capital Poison Center, 2008

Caller Location

Human Exposures

Animal Exposures

Information Calls

Total Volume

District of Columbia

4,783

307

3,081

8,171

Maryland

13,448

724

4,878

19,050

 

 

Montgomery*

7,540

456

2,745

10,741

Prince George’s*

4,527

168

1,442

6,137

Unspecified/Other

1,381

100

691

2,172

Virginia

19,510

1,339

5,588

26,437

 

Alexandria

921

63

242

1,226

Arlington

2,326

151

649

3,126

Fairfax-Falls Church

8,523

640

2,769

11,932

Fauquier

210

13

56

279

Loudoun

2,699

133

446

3,278

Prince William

3,408

235

951

4,594

Stafford

500

36

141

677

Unspecified/Other

923

68

334

1,325

Other/Unknown

3,484

306

3,038

6,828

Total

41,225

2,676

16,585

60,486

* An additional 463 human exposures, 109 animal exposures, and 315 information calls were reported to the Maryland Poison Center from Montgomery County.  An additional 520 human exposures, 46 animal exposures, and 289 information calls were reported to the Maryland Poison Center from Prince George's County.

 

 


 

Poisonings: The National Picture

According to the most recent data available from the CDC, poisoning was a leading cause of injury death in 2005, second only to motor vehicle crashes1.  Seventy percent of these poisoning deaths were unintentional.  There were 32,691 poisoning deaths in 2005 and the rate has been rising for the past several years1.  Most of this increase is attributable to the rising number of poisoning deaths involving opioid pain medications; over 90% of poisoning deaths in 2005 were drug related2.


 

Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System indicates that poisonings are also among the ten leading causes of nonfatal injuries3.  Since 2001, nonfatal poisoning rates have decreased substantially among children younger than 6, have remained fairly stable for 6 to 19 year olds, and have increased for adults.  The increase has been most dramatic among older adults.  Children aged 6 to 12 have consistently had the lowest rate of nonfatal poisoning injury while teens and adults aged 20-59 have consistently had the highest rates. 

 

The National Capital Poison Center is one of 61 regional poison centers that serve the US.  Poison centers handle more than 2 million poison exposures each year, but the problem is even larger than that.   Many poisonings do not involve a call to the poison center.  Poison centers were consulted in just 4% of the 32,691 poisoning deaths in 20051,4.  The CDC estimated that there were 880,264 poisoning injuries in 2007 that were serious enough to result in a visit to an emergency department3.  That same year, poison centers were involved in 588,262 cases that involved treatment at a health care facility, indicating that poison centers are not consulted for many poisoning-related ED visits5.  Poisonings also go unreported when people do not realize they have been exposed, choose not to seek medical treatment or advice, do not have access to medical care, or do not know about poison center services. 


References

  1. Fingerhut LA and Anderson RN. The three leading causes of injury mortality in the United States, 1999-2005. National Center for Health Statistics Health E-Stats, March 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/injury99-05/injury99-05.htm.  Accessed 2/27/09. 
  2. Fingerhunt LA. Increases in poisoning and methadone-related deaths: United States, 1995-2005.  National Center for Health Statistics E-Stas, February 2008.  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/poisoning/poisoning.htm.  Accessed 2/27/09. 
  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2003). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from: URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.  Accessed 2/27/2009. 
  1. Lai MW, Klein-Schwartz W, Rodgers GC, Abrams JY, Haber DA, Bronstein AC, and Wruk KM.  2005 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poisoning and Exposure Database.  Clin Toxicol 2006; 44: 803-932. 
  1. Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR, Green JL, Rumack, BH, and Heard, SE. 2007 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (NPDS): 25th Annual Report. Clin Toxicol 2008; 46:927-1057.



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