The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7305 p793
26 June 2004

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Most child poisonings involve medicines

Child Safety Week, which ends on 27 June, has brought a reminder from the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) that seven out of every 10 children admitted to hospital with suspected poisoning have swallowed medicines. In 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available, almost 31,500 children aged less than 15 years were taken to hospital with suspected poisoning and 7,000 were admitted. Over 26,000 of the cases involved children under five years.

Painkillers are the most frequent cause of poisoning but children have also been taken to hospital after swallowing tranquillisers, antidepressants, vitamins and sleeping pills.

CAPT says that child-resistant closures have significantly reduced the number of childhood poisonings since their introduction. However, health care professionals and parents need to remember that these closures are not fully child proof and that medicines should be kept where children can neither see nor reach them, preferably behind lock and key.

Child-resistant closures are legally defined as those that no more than 15 per cent of children can open within five minutes and no more than 20 per cent can open within a further five minutes after being shown how to do so.