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- Published on: 8 May 2019
- Published on: 8 May 2019The other 99% of poisoning incidents
Lee and colleagues raise important issues regarding hospitalisations from poisoning in New South Wales, Australia. Based on NSW Poisons Information Centre statistics, we would estimate that hospital admissions account for less than 1% of recorded poisoning exposures. It is important to consider these less serious cases to provide additional information to inform interventions for injury prevention. In addition, more detailed information is available, such as exact substances and clinical information – key limitations highlighted in this dataset. Unfortunately, Aboriginal status is not yet routinely collected and is a key limitation of PIC data for informing policy and practice.
This paper also highlights the limitations of different mortality datasets. The National Coronial Information System records three deaths from unintentional poisoning (excluding environmental exposures) in NSW over 2000-14 for children under 5 years, versus the one reported here from the NSW Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages. All deaths were from different pharmaceuticals, two were liquids and one a sugar-coated tablet – important considerations for injury prevention.
The Poisons Information Centres in Australia strongly support a national organisation for the collection and analysis of poisoning data, with coordinated regulatory and health promotion strategies for poisoning prevention.Conflict of Interest:
None declared.