ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the frequency, types of common corrosives ingested & assess their immediate outcome in terms of survival, admission to intensive care unit and mortality in children presenting with acute poisoning.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Pediatric Medicine, National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, from 6 Oct 2010 to 5 Apr 2011.

Materials and Methods: A total of 105 children with history of ingestion of poisoning substance were enrolled in the study after informed consent on justification of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Children were evaluated for frequency of corrosive ingestion and the type of corrosive substance ingested. Immediate outcome in terms of discharge, admission within 24 hours and death were also recorded. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 16.

Results: Mean age of children was 3.9±2.9 years including 56(53.3%) males and 49(46.7%) females. Corrosive ingestion was found in 14 (13.3%) of children. Ingestion of sodium hypochlorite was found in 8 (57.1%) children followed by NaOH in 4 (28.6%) and sulphuric acid in 2 (14.3%) children. Ten (71.4%) of the children were discharge from ED while 3 (21.4%) children admitted in ICU and 1 (7.1%) child was died. Although the frequency corrosive ingestion with respect to age and gender was insignificant (P-value>0.05).

Conclusion: Proportion of corrosives ingestion was high (13.3%) in this study. Sodium hypochlorite was the most common corrosive substance ingested while sulphuric acid was the least common. Regarding the outcomes, survival rate was high (92.9%) with relatively high death rate 7.1%. Key Words: Corrosive ingestion, Acid, Alkali, NaOH

Citation of article: Bashir A, Abid k, Baig NN, Parkash O. Frequency, Types and Immediate Outcome of Corrosive Ingestion in Children. Med Forum 2017;28(6):84-87.

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