New Trends in Pediatric Hospitalizations for Acute Intoxications: A Single-Center Long-Term Retrospective Study

Background: Alcohol and drugs are the most common causes of acute intoxications in children. The aim of our study was to determine changes in hospitalizations for acute intoxications, especially acute alcohol intoxications (AAIs), among children aged 0-18 at the Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Split from 2016 to 2021 and to compare them to results of the previous studies conducted in the same department. Methods: We collected data from hospital medical records from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021. According to the cause of intoxication, children were divided into two groups, those with AAIs and those with non-alcohol intoxications (non-AAIs), and four age groups, 0-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-18 years. We used SPSS 25 for statistical analyses with a p value < 0.05 as statistically significant. Results: There were 218 children hospitalized for acute intoxications at the Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Split, 71 for AAIs and 147 due to intoxications with other substances. Medicaments were the most common cause of acute intoxications (41.29%), followed by alcohol (32.57%). Among children hospitalized for drugs intoxications, there were 18.89% suicide attempts, and 88.23% of them were girls. Non-AAIs were most common among 0-5- and 14-18-year-olds. AAIs were most common among boys who were 14-18 years old. The average blood alcohol concentration was 2.15‱, and 8.45% children tested positive for drugs. A significant decrease in AAIs among all hospitalizations was detected in the observed period, especially during COVID-19, predicting a further annual decrease of 21.26%. Conclusions: Although hospitalizations for AAIs among children are decreasing, increasing intoxications with non-medical drugs and medicaments, especially those intentional as suicidal attempts, indicate that intensive work on the mental health of young people and children is necessary.