Introduction:

Poisonings due to accidents are increasing causes of morbidity, hospitalization, disability and even mortality.

Objective:

To describe the clinical and epidemiological aspects in children with acute intoxications.

Method:

An observational, descriptive and prospective study was carried out in children and adolescent patients admitted with the diagnosis of exogenous intoxication in the services of Continuous Care to severely ill and Miscellaneous patients from Dr. Antonio María Béguez César Southern Pediatric Teaching Hospital, in Santiago de Cuba from January, 2016 to January, 2018.

Results:

Poisoning had a high incidence in the 15 - 18 years group (61,7 %) and in the female sex (85,1 %); most of them took place voluntarily (85,1 %), mainly at home (84,1 %) and with predominance of drugs as causal agent (86,9 %). Clinical course was satisfactory in 68,2 % of the patients; it was not the same in the rest due to the emergence of complications, above all due to drug gastritis (30,8 %)

Conclusions:

Poisoning in childhood and adolescence is an important cause of morbidity, after the respiratory infections, and constitute an usual reason of medical emergencies in pediatric hospitals.

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