Risk Assessment of Ipecac in the Home

Abstract

To determine how frequently parents give ipecac syrup without medical consultation and what complications result from this practice, 8 months of telephone calls to a regional poison center for poisonings of children less than age 6 years (23,790 calls) and 3 years of medical records for children's poisonings from 21 hospitals (516 cases) were studied. The practice of using ipecac syrup without consultation ranged from 0.4% of poison center callers to 6.0% of hospital patients. Of the 137 parents who gave ipecac without consultation, only 4% gave ipecac syrup for a poisoning exposure for which its use was contraindicated. In none of these cases did medical complications such as aspiration, seizures, or gastrointestinal burns result. Hence, the practice of giving children ipecac syrup without medical advice was found to be relatively infrequent and rarely produced complications. The study pointed out the importance of educating parents about products for which ipecac syrup is contraindicated and about occasions when ipecac is unnecessary. In 61% of cases of poisonings, the parent gives ipecac before calling the poison center and learning that the child did not need the Ipecac. The study also suggested that improvements are needed in warning labels of particular products, and revisions and standardization of the labels found on different brands of ipecac syrup are essential for appropriate emergency care.