Children drug poisoning in Jeddah: Prevalence, pattern and mother’s practice


Original Article

Author Details : Sahar Fareed Al-ahdal*, Rajaa Al-Raddadi, Hadeel Khaled Akbar

Volume : 6, Issue : 1, Year : 2019

Article Page : 12-20

https://doi.org/10.18231/j.jchm.2019.003



Suggest article by email

Get Permission

Abstract

Introduction: Accidental children poisoning is a potential source of morbidity and mortality. There is a paucity of data about its burden in Saudi Arabia.
Objectives: To assess the prevalence and patterns of acute poisoning in children and the response of mothers/caregivers to its incidence in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted including the mothers who attended the primary healthcare centers (PHCs) during the period from Sep to Oct 2017 Seven PHCs were randomly selected followed by selecting a proportional sample of mothers from each center. Data collection was performed through an interview with the participants via a structured questionnaire.
Results: In a total of 354 mothers (69.8% with at least a high school education), 82 mothers (23.2%) reported a history of poisoning. The affected children aged 2-5 years with a slight male propensity (53.7%). Therapeutic drugs accounted for 87.8% of cases (mainly antipyretics, cough syrups and decongestants). Telephone consultation and immediate referral to the nearest PHC were the most common responses (86.1% and 70.8%, respectively). Family members were the most frequent source of information (69%) while 76.4% of the mothers had no contact with the drug poisoning center. Poisoning episodes increased significantly when the mother was less educated (P =0.017), non-working (P=0.026), had another child aged <1 P=0.029), P=0.033).> Conclusion: Accidental children poisoning represents a significant burden. Effective communication with the local drug poisoning center should be established. There is an urgent need to conduct aggressive campaigns to reduce poisoning rates.

Keywords: Poisoning, Children, Saudi Arabia, Morbidity, Drug-related side effects and adverse reactions.


How to cite : Al-ahdal S F, Al-raddadi R, Akbar H K, Children drug poisoning in Jeddah: Prevalence, pattern and mother’s practice. J Community Health Manag 2019;6(1):12-20


This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.







View Article

PDF File  


Copyright permission

Get article permission for commercial use

Downlaod

PDF File    


Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Article DOI

https://doi.org/10.18231/j.jchm.2019.003


Article Metrics






Article Access statistics

Viewed: 1643

PDF Downloaded: 515