Acute lethal poisonings in children: A 10-year retrospective study of the Moscow Region, Russia

Background: Poisoning is a critical public health problem. Toxic substances differ across time, region and age. Little is known about poisoning in Russia, and even less is known about lethal poisoning in children in Russia. We aimed to describe the characteristics of cases of lethal poisoning in children and adolescents. Design and methods: Our retrospective study was based on autopsy reports from archives of the Moscow Region Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination for the period of 2009 to 2018. Results: A total of 438 lethal poisoning cases were recorded. The average age of the poisoned children was 11.3 years. Deaths predominantly occurred in boys, mostly due to the higher frequency of poisoning with household and technical chemicals (P<0.01). Accidental deaths were also higher in males (P<0.01). Therapeutic drug poisoning (P<0.01) and suicide (P<0.01) were more frequent in females. The leading cause of lethal poisoning in children was exposure to carbon monoxide, especially in children aged 5 to 9 years (P<0.01) and 1 to 4 years (P<0.01). Carbon monoxide poisoning occurred more often in winter (P<0.01). Regarding the structure of poisoning with household and technical chemicals, the most frequent was poisoning by a mixture of utility gases. Conclusion: Our study shows that carbon monoxide poisoning is a serious problem in the region. This may be associated with the ongoing use of individual heating systems. A significant increase in the frequency of fatal poisoning by chemicals, especially by propane-butane gas mixtures while sniffing, has become a disturbing trend.