OBJECTIVE Prior research regarding poison center utilization identified risk factors for underutilization including race/ethnicity and acculturation. The purpose of this study was to understand factors contributing to underutilization of poison centers by low-income and minority mothers. METHODS Focus groups were conducted with women attending an urban Women, Infants and Children clinic. Tran...

Introduction Since 2008, poisoning has become the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States (US); since 1980, the poisoning-related fatality rate in the US has almost tripled.1 Many poison-related injuries and deaths are reported to regional poison centers (PCs) which receive about 2.4 million reports of human chemical and poison exposures annually.2 Federal, state, and local p...

This article examines rates of nonmedical use and diversion of extended-release amphetamine and extended-release oral methylphenidate in the United States. Prescription dispensing data were sourced from retail pharmacies. Nonmedical use data were collected from the Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) System Drug Diversion Program and Poison Center Program. Dr...

Children younger than 5 are at greatest risk for unintentional poisonings. Children in low-income situations are particularly vulnerable for exposures to potential poisons. Focus groups were conducted at a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program located in a large urban public hospital in New York City to gain information from low-income parents of young children about real and perceived bar...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to describe differences in childhood pesticide exposures between counties on the Texas-Mexico border and nonborder counties. METHOD The authors reviewed all pesticide exposures among children younger than 6 years reported to the South Texas Poison Center during 1997 through 2000. RESULTS Nonborder counties had twice the reported exposure rate of bord...

From the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Denver (R.C.D., S.G.S., B.B.-B., J.L.G.); the Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (H.L.S.); the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis (T.J.C.); and the American Association for the Treatmen...

Benzocaine is a topical anesthetic frequently used in healthcare facilities and in over-the-counter medications in concentrations up to 20%. Benzocaine may induce methemoglobinemia, a condition that impairs the blood’s ability to carry oxygen. The optimal management of exposure to benzocaine remains unclear because serious toxicity is uncommon and may not be dose-related. In 2000, it was estima...

Edited by David C Lee, MD, Research Director, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, North Shore University Hospital, New York University; John T VanDeVoort, PharmD, DABAT, Manager, Clinical Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Department, Regions Hospital; John Benitez, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Departments of Emergency and Environmental Medicine, Uni...