Clinical and Socioeconomic Factors Associating with Opium Poisonings in Children and Adolescents

Use of opium and derivatives is one of the major health, psychosocial and socioeconomic problems and can lead to complications for societies. The present study aimed to assess clinical and socioeconomic factors associated with the poisonings by Opium and its Derivatives (O&D) in children and adolescents.
This retrospective study was carried out to review the recorded clinical information of children and adolescents admitted to the pediatric emergency department of the Ali Ibn Abi Talib Hospital due to acute poisoning by O&D during a seven-year period since 2014. Demo-economic information was taken from the patient’s guardians at the time of discharge. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS 20 considering 0.05 as the significant level.
From among 227 poisoned children, 50.7% were female and 75.8%, 8.8% and 15.4% were in age groups of <8 year, 8-12 and 12-18 years, respectively. About 42.7% of the children poisoned by industrial substances, compared to the traditional substances. Respectively, 87.7%, 11% and 1.3% of the children were poisoned accidentally, intentionally, and due to family challenges or schooling problems. Variables of the children’s gender, age, and father’s age were associated with self-poisoning. The samples’ heart rate, blood pressure and seizure were affected by the type of narcotic.
Overall, the majority of poisoned children were girls and young. Those with very young and very old parents had more tendency to self-poison due to family challenges. Types of narcotic substances significantly correlated with irregular changes in the size of the pupil, heart rate, blood pressure and seizure.