Suspected paediatric pesticide poisoning in the UK. I--Home Accident Surveillance System 1982-1988.

1. Between 1982 and 1988, 239,350 children under 10 years old attended 20 A & E Departments in England and Wales (22 departments throughout the UK in 1988) as a result of a home accident. 15,144 of 239,350 were suspected cases of poisoning and 514 attendances involved pesticides. 2. 501 of 514 children who attended hospital were under 6 years old and 41% were thought to have ingested a rodenticide, 37% an insecticide or other animal poison, 13% an herbicide or fungicide and 9% other pesticides. 3. Overall 189 of 514 children were admitted to hospital and of these 189 cases 35% were discharged home in less than one day; 94% left hospital within 2 days. 4. Using these data we estimate that over the period of study approximately 1,850 children annually attended an Accident and Emergency Department in the UK with suspected pesticide poisoning and that some 450 were admitted to hospital. However, the morbidity from this cause is low and no deaths from pesticide poisoning have been reported in children in England and Wales for more than two decades.