Introduction:

There are few studies on pediatric patients with severe intoxications requiring management in intensive care units (ICUs).

Objective:

To describe the clinical characteristics of patients treated in the ICU for intentional or accidental intoxications.

Material and methods:

Observational, descriptive, and retrospective study of 26 patients, younger than 17 years of age, admitted to the ICU for severe intoxication in a private hospital.

Results:

Mean age was 9.6 ± 6 years, 58% were female. In 15 patients the intoxication was intentional (57.6%) and 11 accidental (42.4%). Intoxications caused by medication predominated in both groups. The intentional ones were more frequent in the group of 11-15 years, and in women with a history of psychiatric disorders. While the accidental ones, the majority were in patients from one to five years old, without distinction in sex or important personal or family history. In general, in the 26 patients the management was supportive and no mortality was recorded.

Conclusions:

It seems that there are differences in the characteristics of patients who are admitted to an ICU for care, with intentional intoxications or those that occur accidentally.