Opioid Exposures Reported to U.S. Poison Centers

Information on potentially adverse exposures to the atypical antipsychotic drug ziprasidone is limited. This study described the pattern of exposures involving only ziprasidone (isolated exposures) reported to Texas poison control centers during 2001–2005. The mean dose was 666 mg. The patient age distribution was ≤5 years (11%), 6–19 years (30%), and ≥20 years (60%). The exposures were intentional in 53% of the cases. Seventy-five percent of the exposures were managed at health care facilities. The final medical outcome was classified as no effect for 39% of the cases and minor effects for 40% of the cases. Adverse clinical effects were listed for 53% of the patients; the most frequently reported being neurological (42%), cardiovascular (13%), and gastrointestinal (5%). The most frequently listed treatment was decontamination by charcoal (34%) or cathartic (28%). Potentially adverse ziprasidone exposures reported to poison control centers are likely to involve management at a health care facility and involve some sort of adverse clinical effect. With proper treatment, the outcomes of such exposures are generally favorable.

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Ipecac Use in the Home

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.75.6.1148 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 75 (6) ◽

pp. 1148-1148

Author(s):

BARRY H. RUMACK

Keyword(s):

Medical Literature ◽

Individual Researcher ◽

Poison Centers

The two articles concerning syrup of ipecac in the home (appearing in this issue of Pediatrics) raise and partially answer some questions of importance to pediatricians and poison centers. As is constant in the medical literature, additional questions are raised which provide grist for other studies. It seems unlikely that we will ever run out of questions and completely "solve" the quandries of pediatrics or poisoning. Both studies rely on the telephone management and follow-up of patients. This admittedly results in secondhand data and can never be as good as that which an individual researcher observes. It is, however, "real" in that poison centers and pediatricians operate in this way much of the time.

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Poison Centers, Poison Prevention, and the Pediatrician

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.94.2.220 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 94 (2) ◽

pp. 220-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Frederick H. Lovejoy ◽

William O. Robertson ◽

Alan D. Woolf

Keyword(s):

The United States ◽

Poison Control ◽

Poison Center ◽

Department Of Health ◽

Household Products ◽

Prevention Model ◽

Poison Centers ◽

History Of ◽

Poison Prevention ◽

Remarkable Progress

The first poison centers were established in the United States in the early 1950s, stimulated by an American Academy of Pediatrics' survey of office-based pediatric practices which ascertained that its members had no place to turn for ingredient information on medications and household products.1 With the help of the Academy, pediatrician Dr. Edward Press, the Illinois Department of Health, and several community hospitals, the first poison center emerged. Over the subsequent 40 years, remarkable progress has occurred in the fields of clinical toxicology, poison control, and poison prevention. Yet despite these accomplishments, challenging clouds are appearing on the horizon which threaten these gains. This commentary, by the authors who have viewed and participated in a large part of the history of this progress, will focus on these major accomplishments with an emphasis on (a) poison prevention utilizing the pre-event (primary prevention), (b) the event (secondary prevention), and (c) the postevent (tertiary prevention) model.2

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