The evaluation of the patients who presented to Turgut Özal Medicine Center children emergency unit for drinking corrosive substance between 2009-2018

Aim: Household chemicals are frequently ingested by children, cause serious harm to the organs constituting the nutrition and respiratory tract and constitute an important public health problem with social, psychological and economic dimensions. This study aims to reveal all aspects of the ingestion of corrosive substances by children admitted to Hospital of İnönü University Medical School in the last decade. Material and Method: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, the data were collected from patients' files using a data form probing all aspects of the cases through the questions 'who', 'what', 'when', 'where', 'why', and 'how'. Statistical analysis of all data was performed with SPSS and Jamovi. Results: The number of cases fluctuated over the years and caustic ingestions mostly occurred in the summer (38.67% ). The majority of children who ingested caustics were aged 1-3 years (65.78% ) and male (61.11% ). Ingested caustics were mostly liquid (87.28% ). Ingested substances were often not stored in their original packaging (53.50% ) and left opened (93.89% ). The most common initial symptoms of caustic ingestion were vomiting (16.67% ) and irritability (10.22% ). However, the majority of the children had no symptoms (64.22% ) or clinical findings (74.44% ). The most common complications were oral lesions (22.89% ), irritability (21.33% ) and vomiting (16.67% ). Most of the patients (62.44% ) did not have any complications. Conclusion: There seems to be no improvement in the last decade in Turkey about caustic ingestion by children, which is a significant but improving public health problem in developed countries. Storing corrosive substances in their original packaging, leaving the box unopened and reading the warning labels of household chemicals by parents will play an important role in the prevention of such preventable home accidents. Keywords: Burns, children, corrosives, endoscopy, ingestion, injury