The high prevalence of medication use increases the potential for medication overdoses,
especially among children.
This paper describes the burden of unintentional pediatric medication overdoses in
order to target new prevention efforts.
Data were analyzed in 2007 and 2008 from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance
System, collected January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2005, to estimate the number
of emergency department visits resulting from unintentional medication overdoses among
children aged <or=18 years in the U.S. These data were analyzed by patient demographics,
overdose cause, and implicated products, and compared to visits for nonpharmaceutical
consumer product poisonings.
Based on 3034 cases, an estimated 71,224 emergency department visits for medication
overdoses were made annually by children aged <or=18 years, representing 68.9% of
emergency department visits for unintentional pediatric poisonings. The rate of unintentional
poisonings from medications was twice the rate of those from nonpharmaceutical consumer
products (9.2 visits per 10,000 individuals per year [95% CI=7.3, 11.0] vs 4.2 per
10,000 individuals per year [95% CI=3.3, 5.0]). Four fifths (82.2%) of visits for
medication overdoses were from unsupervised ingestions (children accessing medications
on their own); medication errors and misuse resulted in 14.3% of visits. Most visits
(81.3%) involved children aged <or=5 years, and commonly available over-the-counter
medications were implicated in one third (33.9%) of visits.
Medication overdoses among children, notably unsupervised ingestions, represent a
substantial burden in terms of emergency department visits and hospitalizations. New
efforts to prevent pediatric medication overdoses are needed.