Poisoning Of Children With Drugs Is More Often The Fault Of Adults

Poisoning of children with drugs is more often the fault of adults

More than half of prescription drug poisonings in children under 5 years of age occur after adults leave the pill available to the child.

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More than half of prescription drug poisonings in children under five years of age occur after an adult has removed the drug from a childproof container. This was shown by the results of a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The authors analyzed the causes of 4,496 calls to five poison control centers in Arizona, Florida and Georgia in eight months of 2017. Center staff asked specific questions about the person or people who were caring for a child that day who swallowed pills without their knowledge. There were

Removing drugs from special packaging and storing them in easily accessible places leads to 50 thousand hospital visits in the United States for poisoning in children.

Scientists have found that parents and grandparents tend to make any of these mistakes:

· In order not to forget to take pills, they are put in daily organizers that are easy to open;

Unpackaged tablets lie on bedside tables or kitchen countertops;

· Tablets are placed in plastic bags or travel containers;

· The tablets were accidentally scattered, but not all of them were found.

According to the study, one in three children ate a prescription medication that was extracted from the original packaging. Moreover, drugs for the treatment of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases were more likely to be in organizers for pills or sachets, and drugs for ADHD and opioids were on open surfaces.

OTC drugs were most often obtained by children from original packaging, which is not childproof due to the drug's low toxicity potential.

The optimal way of storing medicines is the original packaging with a childproof function. If you have to take pills out of it, the following precautions must be taken:

· Make sure that the container for pills is protected from children;

· Always close the container after each use, double check that it is closed;

· Do not leave the container in sight, after each use, remove it as high as possible;

· Do the same with wallets, bags or pockets with medicines;

· If you scattered pills, make sure they are all picked up, vacuum the place;

· Even if you are not sure if the child has swallowed the medicine, call an ambulance immediately.