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Accidental drug poisonings in young children
Drug poisonings in young children are common and should be preventable. Previous prevalence studies have used single data sources such as calls to poisons centres, emergency department visits or hospital admissions. This study aimed to comprehensively describe accidental drug poisonings in young children in New South Wales. The study used linked data from three data sources - Poisons Information Centre calls, emergency department visits and hospital admissions in children aged <5 years, 2007–2013. The researchers examined trends, medicines responsible and subsequent management to draw a picture of early childhood poisonings. Overall there was a decline in accidental poisonings, especially severe poisonings measured by hospital admissions and emergency department visits. These results are encouraging but poisonings in young children remain a problem and ongoing monitoring as well as strategies to reduce medication errors and access to medicines by young children are needed.
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