Unintentional Poisoning
Children of all ages are at risk of poisoning for different reasons. Infants are often incorrectly dosed with medications, toddlers are interested in exploring and mistake poison for juice or candy, school-age children may mistakenly take medication without supervision and teens are exposed to social media and peer pressure leading to the use of substances that are not prescribed to them.1
Community insights
In the eight-county primary service area—Collin, Denton, Grayson, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant and Wise counties, 1 in 2 children (about 570,400) live in homes where medications are not always locked up and 4 in 7 children (about 618,500) where cleaning products are not always stored in a locked area.1 Between 2021 and 2023, Cook Children’s Medical Centers in Fort Worth and Prosper treated 1,696 children with unintentional non-fatal injuries due to poisoning, with 1,270 poisonings related to medication/illicit drugs and 426 related to other substances/materials (i.e., cleaning and household products).2 In alignment with the literature, Cook Children’s has seen a rise in drug poisonings related to cannabis (222 patients) and opioids (54 patients).2-4
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, poses a significant danger to children due to the small amount that can cause an accidental overdose. Children and teens are exposed unknowingly, which has led to pediatric deaths across the United States, with a majority of deaths coming from teens ages 15-19 years.5,6 Caregiver communication with children is important in raising awareness about the dangers of substance use, including the dangers of fentanyl. Approximately half of children in the eight-county service area between the ages of 12 and 17 are always talking with their caregiver about drugs and alcohol.1
Unintentional poisoning programing
Poison Prevention
Cook Children's Poison Prevention initiative is designed to help reduce the number accidental poisionings of children through education and resources.
References
1Community Health Needs Assessment Report. (2024). Cook Children’s Health Care System. Fort Worth, Texas; or CookChildren’s CHNA 2024 at www.cookchildrens.org/chna (accessed September 2025).
2Cook Children’s Health Care System, Health Care Analytics. 2024. Accessed September 2024.
3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pediatric edible cannabis exposures and acute toxicity: 2017–2021. Pediatrics. Published online 2021. Accessed August 2024.
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/148/6/e2021050148/181003
4Fort Worth Report. Cook Children’s Fort Worth sees increase in marijuana-related ER visits for young children.Published 2023. Accessed August 2024. https://fortworthreport.org/
5 AAP News. Fentanyl a rising threat to child health: what pediatricians should know. Accessed August 2024.
6AAP News. Study: Fentanyl involved in 94% of pediatric opioid deaths in 2021. Accessed August 2024. https://www.aappublications.org/