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Circumstances Involved in Unsupervised Solid Dose Medication Exposures Among Young Children
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4 2020
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Source: J Pediatr. 219:188-195.e6
[PDF-925.72 KB]
Details:
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Alternative Title:J Pediatr
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Personal Author:
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Description:Background:
Despite widespread adoption of child-resistant packaging (CRP), emergency department visits and calls to poison centers for unsupervised medication exposures by young children remain common. We sought to identify types of containers from which young children accessed solid dose medications (SDMs) and the intended recipients to advance prevention.
Methods:
From February-September 2017, five U.S. poison centers enrolled individuals calling about unsupervised SDM exposures by children ≤5 years. Study participants answered contextually directed questions about exposure circumstances.
Results:
Sixty-two percent of eligible callers participated. Among 4,496 participants, 71.6% of SDM exposures involved children aged ≤2 years; 33.8% involved only prescription medications, 32.8% involved only over-the-counter (OTC) products that require CRP, and 29.9% involved ≥1 OTC product that does not require CRP. Over half (51.5%) of exposures involving prescription medications involved children accessing medications that had previously been removed from original packaging, compared with 20.8% of exposures involving OTC products (aOR=3.39 [2.87-4.00]). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications (49.3%) and opioids (42.6%) were often not in any container when accessed; anticonvulsants (41.1%), hypoglycemic agents (33.8%), and cardiovascular/antithrombotic agents (30.8%) were often transferred to alternate containers. Grandparents’ medications were involved in 30.7% of prescription medication exposures, but only 7.8% of OTC product exposures (aOR=3.99 [3.26-4.87]).
Conclusions:
New efforts to reduce pediatric SDM exposures should also address exposures in which adults, rather than children, remove medications from CRP. Packaging/storage innovations designed to encourage adults to keep products within CRP and specific educational messages could be targeted based on common exposure circumstances, medication classes, and medication intended recipients.
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Pubmed ID:32005542
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Pubmed Central ID:PMC10935586
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Volume:219
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