Trends in Emergency Department Visits for Unsupervised Pediatric Medication Exposures

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Lovegrove, Maribeth C. ; Weidle, Nina J. ; Geller, Andrew I. ; Lind, Jennifer N. ; Rose, Kathleen O. ; Goring, Sandra K. ; Budnitz, Daniel S.
• Description:
  Introduction:
  
  Emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for unsupervised medication exposures among young children increased in the early 2000s. Prevention efforts were initiated in response.
  
  Methods:
  
  Nationally-representative data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project collected from 2009-2020 were analyzed in 2022 to assess overall and medication-specific trends in ED visits for unsupervised exposures among children aged ≤5 years.
  
  Results:
  
  From 2009-2020, there were an estimated 677,968 (95% CI, 550,089-805,846) ED visits for unsupervised medication exposures among children aged ≤5 years in the United States. Most visits involved children aged 1-2 years (2009-2012 [70.3%]; 2017-2020 [67.4%]), and nearly one-half involved prescription solid medications (2009-2012 [49.4%]; 2017-2020 [48.1%]). The largest declines in estimated numbers of annual visits from 2009-2012 to 2017-2020 were for exposures involving prescription solid benzodiazepines (−2,636 visits; −72.0%) and opioids (−2,596 visits; −53.6%), and over-the-counter liquid cough and cold medications (−1,954 visits; −71.6%) and acetaminophen (−1,418 visits; −53.4%). The estimated number of annual visits increased for exposures involving over-the-counter solid herbals/alternative remedies (+1,028 visits; +65.6%), with the largest increase for melatonin exposures (+1,440 visits; +421.1%). Overall, the estimated number of visits for unsupervised medication exposures decreased from 66,416 in 2009 to 36,564 in 2020 (annual percentage change [APC] −6.0%). Emergent hospitalizations for unsupervised exposures also declined (APC −4.5%).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Declines in estimated ED visits and hospitalizations for unsupervised medication exposures from 2009-2020 coincided with renewed prevention efforts. Targeted approaches may be needed to achieve continued declines in unsupervised medication exposures among young children.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Benzodiazepines Child Child, Preschool Drug-Related Side Effects And Adverse Reactions Emergency Service, Hospital Hospitalization Humans Nonprescription Drugs Prescription Drugs United States
• Source:
  Am J Prev Med. 64(6):834-843
• Pubmed ID:
  37210158
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10935594
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:6311dc21757fe7337dafa498888a2678351d058dc10dd3856a227fe40951201e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/151698/cdc_151698_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 156.33 KB ]