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Emergency Department Visits Involving Accidental Ingestion of Drugs by Children Aged 5 or Younger

The DAWN Report - Emergency Department Visits Involving Accidental Ingestion of Drugs by Children Aged 5 or Younger

Highlights:

In 2008, 69,121 (68.9 percent) of an estimated 100,340 emergency department (ED) visits involving accidental ingestion of drugs were made by patients aged 5 or younger. Two fifths (42.3 percent) of these ED were made by patients aged 2 years old, and 29.5 percent were made by patients aged 1 year old. Drugs that act on the central nervous system (CNS drugs), such as acetaminophen products, ibuprofen products, and benzodiazepines, were involved in 40.8 percent of these ED visits, with the largest percentages coming from pain relievers (21.1 percent) and drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia (11.6 percent). For children aged 5 or younger taken to the ED for accidental ingestion of drugs, 85.3 percent were treated and released, whereas 8.7 percent were admitted for inpatient care.

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This Short Report,The DAWN Report - Emergency Department Visits Involving Accidental Ingestion of Drugs by Children Aged 5 or Younger, is based on the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) conducted by SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.

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SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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