Accidental poisoning of young children.

Deaths from violence constitute the largest single group of deaths to which children aged 1-4 fall victim. The accidental ingestion of poisonous substances is a small but important cause of these deaths. During the decade 1940-49 the Registrar General for England and Wales reported the deaths of 218 children aged 1-4 from accidental poisoning other than by toxic gases. An account of the substances causing these deaths seemed to be worth while, since they have not previously been recorded. Fig. 1 illustrates how children aged 1-4 are particularly liable to death from accidental poisoning. (In this paper the phrase 'accidental poisoning' means poisoning by ingestion of toxic substances, and the deaths referred to are those given by the Registrar General under the heading 'Other Acute Accidental Poisoning (not by Gas)', International List No. 179). In Fig. 1 the broken line shows the annual average death rate at age groups (without distinction of sex) for 1931-39 and the continuous line the same for 1940-49. Though the death rate in 1940-49 appears to be higher z at every age group than in m 1931-39, the disparity may be j wholly due to the differences -J in recording the statistics, 9 since from 1940 onwards 2 8 deaths from accidental < poisoning on which coroners' 7 open verdicts were given were assigned to this category uj instead of to a separate one. a 5A detailed analysis of the -J average annual death rates O 4 at age groups in the two Z z 3 sexes is given in Table 1 for < the two periods of years w 1931-39 and 1940-49. It shows that the death CZ I rates of both males and > 0 females follow similar trends, < 0-4510-ISand that the death rates of children up to the age of 5 are considerably greater for TABLE I