Intoxicações exógenas acidentais em crianças e adolescentes atendidos na unidade de emergência de um hospital de referência de Minas Gerais, em Belo Horizonte, em 2013

Abstract

Accidental intoxications are a global health problem for children and adolescents, with an estimated 45,000 deaths annually and an incidence of 1.8 / 100,000 individuals. Moreover, result in a substantial number of hospital internment. In lowand middle-income countries, intoxications are the fourth leading type of injuries from external causes in children, after highway accidents, burns and drowning. This is a descriptive, retrospective study to study accidental exogenic intoxication in children and adolescents treated at the Hospital João XXIII (Hospital Foundation of Minas Gerais), a State reference in the care of intoxications in the city of Belo Horizonte, in 2013. To describe the profile of care and identify the main causative agents of exogenous intoxication and factors associated with hospital internment, the patient electronic records and attendance records of Toxicology Sector were used. They identified 353 cases of poisoning. The study sample included children and adolescents in the age groups 0-12 and 13-19 years, respectively. Study variables used were sociodemographic and clinical. Intoxications were more frequent in children aged 0 to 4 years (72.5%), male (55%). The vast majority of treatment was the patients from the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (83%) and 90% occurred in the home. Since 82,7% of poisonings have taken orally, especially those caused by medicines (36.5% of all intoxication). Only 12.2% of the cases resulted in hospitalization, with one single death. The variables associated to hospitalization are related to the place of residence outside the Belo Horizonte County and the involvement of more than one substance in the intoxication. Strategic actions for prevention and attention to intoxication in children and adolescents may consider the aspects of cases observed in the present study.