Study Findings on Analgesics Are Outlined in Reports from National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital (Clinical features of children with drug poisoning in a single emergency department in Goyang, Korea): Drugs and Therapies – Analgesics

2023 APR 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Pain & Central Nervous System Daily News -- Researchers detail new data in analgesics. According to news originating from Goyang, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Pediatric drug poisoning is a frequent reason for emergency department (ED) visits. Considering the increasing number of mental illnesses in adolescents, it has become a serious public health problem.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital: “We aimed to investigate the drug poisoning in the ED. We retrospectively analyzed children aged 1-17 years with diagnostic codes related to drug poisoning who visited the ED from January 1, 2010 through October 7, 2022. Exclusion criteria were non-pharmaceutical poisoning, insufficient data, and poisoning via respiratory, dermal or ocular route. Baseline characteristics, clinical manifestations, and outcomes of drug poisoning were analyzed in the study population, according to intention of poisoning and drug category. A total of 197 cases of 161 children were analyzed. Compared with non-intentional poisoning, intentional poisoning was associated a higher age, a longer time from ingestion to visit, and higher proportions of girls, antipyretics/analgesics or psychotropic drugs, symptoms related to the gastrointestinal, neurologic or cardiopulmonary systems (P = 0.034), psychiatric comorbidity, multiple drug ingestion, suicide attempt, decontamination (P = 0.017), the use of antidote, history of drug poisoning, and hospitalization (P = 0.004; all other Ps < 0.001). Acetaminophen, a representative of antipyretics/analgesics, was associated with a longer time from ingestion to visit and higher proportions of girls (P = 0.004), the presence of initial gastrointestinal symptoms, suicide attempt (P = 0.001), the use of antidote, and hospitalization (all other Ps < 0.001). Psychotropic drug was associated with higher proportions of psychiatric comorbidity (P < 0.001) and multiple drug ingestion (P = 0.012).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study will enable pediatricians or emergency physicians to obtain an overview of the management of drug poisoning in EDs.”

For more information on this research see: Clinical features of children with drug poisoning in a single emergency department in Goyang, Korea. Pediatric Emergency Medicine Journal, 2023,10(1):23-30. The publisher for Pediatric Emergency Medicine Journal is Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.22470/pemj.2022.00619.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Jung Min Park, Department of Pediatrics, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, South Korea.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)