Title: Ethanol exposures among infants in the US: 2009-2018<br/>Author: Hong Kim<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/526/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
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Ethanol exposure among young children can result in significant morbidity. Infants and young children can be exposed to ethanol in many different ways: exploratory ingestion, mixed in formula-both intentionally and unintentionally, etc. </p>
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A recently published study used national poison data system to characterize the ethanol exposure among infants < 12 months of age.</p>
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<strong>Results:</strong></p>
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Between 2009-2018, 1,818 ethanol exposures among infants were reported. Oral ingestion was the most common (96.7%; n=1738). Annual number of ethanol exposure increased by 37.5% each year. </p>
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Exposure site</p>
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Residence: 96.7% (n=1,758)</li>
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Public are/workplace or school: 1.6% (n=29)</li>
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Age</p>
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0-2 months: 16.3% (n=296)</li>
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3-5 months: 19.6% (n=357)</li>
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6-8 months: 18.8% (n=341)</li>
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9-11 months: 45.3% (n=824)</li>
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Clinically significant effects</p>
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Coma: 20</li>
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Hypoglycemia: 16</li>
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Respiratory depression: 15</li>
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Seizures: 13</li>
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Hypothermia: 9</li>
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Cardiac arrest: 4</li>
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Respiratory arrest: 3</li>
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Death: 5</li>
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563 infants (31%) were evaluated at hospital</p>
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38% (n=214) of the exposures were hospitalized</p>
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0-5 months of age </p>
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higher odds of admission: non-critical (OR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.41-3.92) or critical care unit (OR: 2.39; 95% CI:1.5-3.79)</li>
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higher odds of serious outcome (OR: 4.65; 95% IC: 3.18-6.79)</li>
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<strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
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Ethanol exposure among infants is increasing each year and associated with serious clinical effects. </p>
<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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Gaw CE et al. Beverage ethanol exposure among infants reported to United States pison control centers 2020 Clin Toxicol (Phila) <a data-original-font-size="11" data-original-line-height="15" href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15563650.2020.1843658" property="sameAs" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; word-break: break-word; color: rgb(2, 12, 125); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" tabindex="-1">https://doi.org/10.1080/15563650.2020.1843658</a></p>
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