2007 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS): 25th Annual Report.

BACKGROUND

This report is the 25th Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC; http://www.aapcc.org) National Poison Data System (NPDS). During 2007, 60 of the nation's 61 U.S. Poison Centers upload case data automatically. The median upload time is 14 [5.3, 55] (median [25%, 75%]) min creating a real-time national exposure database and surveillance system.

METHODOLOGY

We analyzed the case data tabulating specific indices from NPDS. The methodology was similar to that of previous years. Where changes were introduced, the differences are identified. Fatalities were reviewed by a team of 29 medical and clinical toxicologists and assigned to 1 of 6 categories according to Relative Contribution to Fatality.

RESULTS

Over 4.2 million calls were captured by NPDS in 2007: 2,482,041 human exposure calls, 1,602,489 information requests, and 131,744 nonhuman exposure calls. Substances involved most frequently in all human exposures were analgesics (12.5% of all exposures). The most common exposures in children less than age 6 were cosmetics/personal care products (10.7% of pediatric exposures). Drug identification requests comprised 66.8% of all information calls. NPDS documented 1,597 human fatalities.

CONCLUSIONS

Poisoning continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States NPDS represents a valuable national resource to collect and monitor U.S. poisoning exposure cases. It offers one of the few real-time surveillance systems in existence, provides useful data, and is a model for public health surveillance.