Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Health Ministry
November 2005
Poisonings
Poisonings - The Maryland Poison Center (MPC) is a division of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and certified by the American Association of Poison Control Centers as a regional poison center for Maryland. In their recently released statistics for 2004, the MPC reports 66,593 calls received, with a little over one half of them, 35,484 involving human exposure, the remaining 31,109 requests for information or animal poisonings.*
Age/Sex: The majority of poison exposures involve children under the age of five with the following breakdown:
< 5 years - 53%
6-12 years - 7%
13-19 years - 8%
>20 years - 32%
Forty-eight per cent (48%) of these exposures occurred in males, and fifty-two per cent (52%) in females.
Of the total number 35,484 of human exposures, Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County had the highest number of exposures with, 6,313/17.8%, 5,348/15.1% and 4,519/12.7 %, respectively. Montgomery County had 1,035/2.9% of the total.
Circumstance: Calls to the MPC are for many different reasons.
Unintentional exposure (82%) includes those in toddlers, occupational, environmental, bite/sting, or other
Intentional exposures (15%) includes misuse, abuse or suicide attempts;
Adverse reaction (2%) includes reactions to drugs, food and other substances;
Other (1%) includes malicious or contaminant/tampering or unknown reasons for exposure.
The MPC managed 74% of the calls at home or site of exposure, saving millions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs compared to management in a hospital or health care facility. The effectiveness of the MPC program is shown in the patient outcomes with 27 (0.1%) of the cases reported resulting in death, while 91.7% of the cases resulted in no effect or minor effects. The remaining 7.2% included other miscellaneous or unknown outcomes.
Of the substances involved in poisonings 22,523 were from drug substances, with analgesics, sedative/hypnotics/antipsychotics, cough/cold preparations, and cardiovascular drugs the most frequently occurring substances. Of non-drug substances, cosmetics, household cleaning substances, alcohols, pesticides, plants occurred most frequently.
The
FIRST goal is PREVENTION of exposure but for all exposures, prompt attention is
the best way to reduce the likelihood of developing severe toxicity. For
exposures call 1-800-222-1222. For more information visit the MPC website at
www.mdpoison.com.
(*Information for this article from Toxalert - 2004 Statistical Report-September 2005- a publication from the Maryland Poison Center)
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Last Updated: 12/19/06 05:52 PM