Accidental poisoning of preschool children from medicinal substances, Australia

Peter O’Connor

2001
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Canberra
AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 39

The most common agent of poisoning amongst preschoolers admitted to hospital in Australia was the group of aromatic analgesics including paracetamol. However, the more important agents, in terms of health burden, were anticoagulant medications, tranquillisers, barbiturates and antipsychotic and neuroepileptic medications. Thankfully, very few preschoolers die from medicinal poisoning in Australia. The low severity of medicinal poisoning's could reflect the effectiveness of the legislative controls on the availability of poisons in Australia.

The hospitalisation rate of preschoolers from medicinal poisoning was higher in rural and remote areas than in urban areas. This result does not seem to reflect differential hospital admission practices, because there were no significant differences in the length of stay distributions by area. It is likely to reflect a higher incidence of poisoning in rural and remote areas.

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