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Correlation between hospitalization for pharmaceutical ingestion and attention deficit disorder in children aged 5 to 9 years old.

Hariharan S, Pomerantz W

Division of Emergency Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA. selena.hariharan@chkd.org

To determine if attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a risk factor for pharmaceutical ingestions leading to hospital admission in children between ages 5 and 9, a retrospective, case-controlled chart review was conducted at a children's hospital. Cases were children aged 5 to 9 admitted for oral ingestion of pharmaceuticals. Controls were children admitted during the same time period with abdominal pain, appendicitis, or gastroenteritis. Controls were matched to cases 3:1 by age and gender. An odds ratio was calculated to determine if attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a statistically significant risk factor for hospitalization after pharmaceutical ingestion. A total of 36% of 31 identified cases had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder compared with 7% of controls. The odds ratio for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children hospitalized after pharmaceutical ingestion was 7.97 (95% confidence interval, 2.35-28.01; P < .01). Children hospitalized for pharmaceutical ingestion are nearly 8 times more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than children hospitalized for an unrelated disorder.

Published 14 January 2008 in Clin Pediatr (Phila), 47(1): 15-20.
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