AAP: Opioid Poisonings Increasing Among Young Children

FRIDAY, Sept. 27, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Opioid poisonings are increasing among children, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, held from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 in Orlando, Florida.

Maria Quidgley-Martin, M.D., from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and colleagues described the demographic, clinical, and social characteristics of children with opioid poisoning evaluated for child maltreatment in a retrospective cohort study. Children who received a Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect team consultation for opioid exposure between June 2012 and December 2023 were analyzed.

Sixty-nine consults for opioid ingestions were identified, with a fourfold increase from 2019 to 2023. The researchers found that 72 percent of the patients were younger than 2 years, and a notable proportion were non-Hispanic Black (11-fold increase from 2019 to 2023). The most common opioid was fentanyl. Most cases (87 percent) occurred in the patient's home or the residence of a relative. Altered mental status, abnormal breathing, and seizures were the most common symptoms reported. Eleven patients presented in cardiac arrest (nine aged younger than 2 years); on presentation, 71 percent had respiratory arrest or depression. Four children died due to fentanyl poisoning; all were aged younger than 2 years. About half of the patients' families (52 percent) had prior Child Protective Services involvement. In 65 percent of cases, there was a family history of opioid abuse.

"Children are the overlooked tragic victims of the United States' opioid epidemic, and fentanyl is now the greatest danger," Quidgley-Martin said in a statement. "We need our first responders to always consider administering naloxone to unconscious pediatric patients in case they have unknowingly been exposed."

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