Childhood poisoning in a paediatric hospital: the Luebeck experience

1 Case documentations in Poison Control Centres represent today probably the most useful source of information on actual trends. They are generally restricted to toxicologically relevant information, but they do not describe true incidence patterns. Population based analyses of incidence therefore generally consist of retrospective studies of hospital data. The regional and historical limitations of such studies restrict their usefulness in prevention and intervention. A solution could be prospective studies in defined regions. 2 Such a prospective registration of poisoning in children was started in 1982 in the Luebeck Medical School's Paediatric Hospital. This hospital is the only institution treating acute poisoning in the region, so that regional representation of the data can be expected. Based on the experiences of a previous retrospective analysis of 730 poisoning cases treated between 1976 and 1980, a documentation form was developed for the registration of clinically and epidemiologically relevant data. Information on the toxic substance and the poisoned child is complemented by data on the clinical treatment as well as on socio-demographic parameters. 3 The first months' experience with the documentation form, and the results of the registration of 95 cases are presented. Possibilities and limitations of such registration systems are discussed.