POISON HAZARDS
Different Age Groups
- Children
- Teenagers
- Seniors
DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS
Do some of the above situations look familiar?
Do you have a family member or know of someone who has accidentally or
intentionally taken an overdose of medicine? Or perhaps ingested other
substances like cleaning, automotive, gardening, or building products?
And then there are mushrooms and exposure to different types of
insecticides and pesticides.
Poisonings are a problem for everyone...all age groups!
POISON PREVENTION TIPS
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STATISTICS FOR ALL AGES
• Poisonings can occur anywhere! However, most poison exposures, 90%, occur in the
home.
• Children under 6 years of age account for more than 50% of all exposures reported to the
Poison Center.
• More than 10,000 children were exposed to poisons in Alabama during 2009 alone.
• Many exposures happen while a product is out and in use, during the daily routines.
• According to the CDC, children account for 19% of the serious injuries from poisons, and
9% of the deaths.
• Adults, however, are responsible for about 80% of the serious injuries, and around 90% of
the deaths.
• An adult is poisoned every 39 seconds in the US.
• More than one-third of all exposures reported involved adults that made mistakes.
In 2008, of the fatalities related to poisoning exposures,
all fatalities involving children under the age of 6 were unintentional,
whereas the majority of fatalities involving adults over the age of 19
were intentional in nature.
UNINTENTIONAL OVERDOSES
• Unintentional exposures are unforeseen or unplanned, and do not include intentional or
abusive exposures.
• According to the CDC 2008 report, 72% of the poisoning deaths in the U. S. were
unintentional.
• Unintentional poisoning was second only to motor vehicle crashes as a cause of
unintentional injury death in 2005.
• Among people 35 to 54 years old, unintentional poisoning caused more deaths than motor
vehicle crashes.
• Unintentional exposures outnumbered intentional poisonings in all age groups with the
exception of ages 13–19 years.
INTENTIONAL OVERDOSES
• Intentional exposures, either suspected suicide, misuse or abuse accounted for 12.5% of
all exposure calls to the Alabama Poison Center in 2008.
• Intentional exposures were reported as frequently as unintentional exposures in patients
aged 13–19 years..
• Intentional poisonings in an attempt to harm oneself was suspected in over 8% of all calls
to Poison Centers.
• In many of the intentional poisonings getting help is often delayed.
• Never leave a child out of sight while a product that is a potential poisoning hazard is
in use. This includes many of the items that we used everyday - cleaning products,
personal care items like makeup and perfumes.
• Always keep products in their original containers.
• Never transfer products from their original container to empty food containers, such
as drink bottles, etc.
• Use products only as directed.
• When taking medications always check to make sure you are taking the right one.
• Take medicine only as directed.
• Know the Suicide Warning Signs.
• Don’t leave a suicidal person alone. You may need to take emergency steps such as
calling 911.
Many poison exposures can be managed at home.
Early intervention when a poisoning occurs
may help reduce the likelihood of severe toxicity.
Call the Poison Center when a poison exposure occurs.
1-800-222-1222
The Alabama Poison Center I 2503 Phoenix Drive I Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 I FAX 205-345-7189
