Title : Nutritional effect of unintentional poisoning in children at a tertiary hospital-Yaounde, Cameroon
Abstract:
Introduction: Acute poisoning account for one of the accidents in a child’s development. Because of its recurrence and the harmfulness of caustic agent ingestion, we thought wise to state related nutritional complications.
Method: The present retrospective study focused on the epidemiological, clinical characteristics and evolution based to the nutritional status of children victims of domestic accidents from January 2012 to December 2016 admitted in a tertiary hospital at Yaoundé.
Results: Three hundred and sixty-one domestic accidents out of 51,431 admissions were registered. The median age of cases was 24 (IQR: 15–72) months. Poisoning accounted for the majority of accidents (23.5%). Ingested hydrocarbons were the most common agent (35.1%), followed by pesticides (24.7%), household products (16.9%), medication (11.7%), and cosmetics (7.8%). Almost 41.0% of patients had complications during hospital admission. Although esophagus and gastric caustic lesions were grade 1 (48.0%), there was a significant proportion in grade 2 (21.0%) and grade 3 (6.0%). Almost all cases (99.6%) of grade 2 and 3 of caustic ingestion develop malnutrition in acute phase, among which 46.7% at the severe stage. Death accounted for 13.9% of domestic accidents with 4.8% related to toxic agents.
Conclusion: Cosmetic poisoning is a new trend with complications such as oesophageal stenosis. The challenge is to restore the continuity of the digestive tract and ensure adequate nutritional intakes to prevent undernutrition in children in a context where parenteral nutrition is not affordable. Sensitization of parent on the risks of children exposure to cosmetic product is therefore crucial.
