Characteristics of children aged 5 and under presenting with ingestion: An analysis of cases from a tertiary child protection unit

Abstract

AimThis study aimed to determine what proportion of children presenting to a tertiary children's hospital with ingestion were referred for child protection assessment, and to describe the characteristics of the referred group.MethodsThis is a retrospective case series study of children who presented to a tertiary children's hospital between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020 with ingestion (poisoning). Demographic and clinical data were collected from the electronic medical record and patients who underwent child protection assessment were identified. The child protection group was compared to the whole cohort. The child protection group had psychosocial data gathered and descriptively analysed.ResultsTwo hundred and three patients were included. The most common substances ingested were over‐the‐counter medications (45%) followed by prescription medications (41%). Most patients were discharged from the emergency department (70%). Of the 203 patients, 24 (11.8%, 95% CI 7.72–17.08) were referred to the child protection unit. A significant proportion of these patients had a history of parental depression (64%) and other mental health conditions (41%), parent separation (77%) and domestic violence in the home (64%).ConclusionThe patients assessed by the child protection team had high prevalence of psychosocial risk factors that also place the patients at risk of child abuse and neglect. Most of the other patients did not have a psychosocial history documented in the medical record, and this group likely contains a high proportion of vulnerable children. By screening patients presenting with ingestion we may be able to identify children at risk and provide opportunities for protective intervention.