Some clinical and epidemiological aspects related to the exogenous intoxications in children and adolescents

A descriptive, observational and prospective investigation of 172 patients of up to 18 years with diagnosis of exogenous intoxication, admitted to "Dr. Antonio María Béguez César" Southern Teaching Children Hospital inSantiago de Cubawas carried out from January, 2015 to same month in2016, inorder to characterize them according to some clinical and epidemiological variables. The percentage was used as summary measure for the qualitative variables and the results were compared by means of the chi-square test, with 95% of confidence. There was a prevalence of adolescents aged 14-18, female sex and voluntary intoxication type. In general, medications constituted the most frequent causal agent, most of the patients had a favorable clinical course and the percentage of complications was low. It was recommended to continue improving the strategies of community intervention in the primary and secondary levels of health care, to be able to diminish the number of affected patients due to this health problem.