Accidental poisoning in children in Jamaica and Belfast: a comparative study.

IN EUROPEAN cities accidental poisoning has been a matter of increasing concern. The incidence has been steadily rising in recent years, and from figures supplied by the Medical Officer of Health for Belfast, accidental poisoning accounts for 15 per cent of all home accidents, and there has been an increase of approximately 300 per cent in the years 1963-66. Perhaps of more importance is that accidental poisoning accounts for 43 per cent of paediatric hospital admissions (Dodge 1966), and it is the child of the toddler age group that is the victim in the vast majority of instances. Fortunately death due to such poisoning is rare. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident reports that of 724 children accidentally poisoned in Northern Ireland, between 1960-63, only seven died. In this report the children admitted to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (R.B.H.S.C.) due to accidental poisoning are compared with children admitted to the observation ward of the University College Hospital (U.C.H.), Kingston, Jamaica. The observation ward in U.C.H. has 16 out of a total of 466 beds, while the R.B.H.S.C. has about 80 medical beds available out of some 230 beds. METHODS In Jamaica information on 113 children admitted to U.C.H. on account of accidental poisoning between September 1st 1963, and December 31st 1966, was obtained, either from the Casualty Observation Ward report books, or the admission records. The records of 293 children admitted to the R.B.H.S.C. as a result of accidental poisoning over the same period of time were examined for comparison. The age and sex of each child, date of admission, cause of poisoning, treatment and complications were recorded.