Pediatric intensive care admissions for poisoning: a retrospective study

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological distribution and clinical course of poisoning cases monitored in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) between the years 2023 and 2024 in a tertiary, single-center setting. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study included all cases aged 1 month to 18 years who were admitted to the PICU with a diagnosis of poisoning. Demographic characteristics, poisoning agents, mode of exposure, time of presentation, clinical findings, treatment approaches, need for mechanical ventilation, length of stay in the PICU, and clinical outcomes were obtained from hospital records. Cases with missing data were excluded prior to final analysis. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and limited comparative analyses were performed between accidental and intentional poisoning cases. Results: A total of 235 poisoning cases were evaluated during the study period. Of the cases, 56.3% were female (n=132) and 43.7% were male (n=103), with a mean age of 6.2 years. The most commonly affected age group was 1-5 years. Medications were the leading agents (72.3%), followed by household cleaning products (15.7%) and pesticides (7.2%). Most cases resulted from accidental exposure (76.6%), while intentional self-poisoning was more prominent among adolescents (20.0%). The need for mechanical ventilation was 1% (n=2), and the mean duration of PICU stay was 2.1 days. One case resulted in mortality (0.4%). Clinical improvement was achieved in most patients with supportive treatment. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that medications are the most common agents in poisoning cases admitted to the PICU, that accidental exposures predominate among younger children, and that intentional self-poisoning is more prominent in adolescents. The low mortality rates suggest that early presentation and appropriate intensive care management are effective. The findings contribute to understanding regional epidemiological patterns and highlight the importance of parental education and safe storage practices for poisoning prevention.