Accidental poisonings in children are poorly evaluated as proved by the few publications in this field. To better
understand the problem related to these accidents, we have carried out a retrospective study, over a period of
19 years from 1992 to 2011 that concerns 2453 cases of accidental poisonings in children reported to the Anti
Poison and Pharmacology Center of Morocco (CAPM). This study’s objective was to determine the
characteristics related to the poisoning and the poisoned population, and to know the factors that may
influence the evolution of poisoned patients, in order to improve the management of this evolution and reduce
the morbidity and lethality caused by these poisonings. According to the obtained results, the accidental
poisonings in children concerned mainly the group of children whose age is between 5 years and 14 years (55.4
% of cases), followed by the group of walking babies with 43.8 %. The average age of the poisoned persons was
06.25±04.09 years. Moreover, the sex ratio (M/F) was 1003, in favor of the male sex. The geographical
distribution of cases indicates that all provinces of the region were affected, with a maximum of reports
recorded in the province of Oujda Angad (63.9 %). Food poisoning recorded the highest number of reports in
the region, with 37.7 % of cases. Drug poisonings ranked second, followed by carbon monoxide poisonings with
(18.1 % and 17.5 %) respectively. The major lethality was noted in people who were poisoned by plants,
followed by people who were poisoned by bites of venomous animals, with a lethality of 4.76 % and 1.16 %.
Among the 1781 cases patients for whom the evolution was known, 1773 cases (72.3%) had a positive
evolution and 8 cases died (a lethality of 0,3%). The study of the studied parameters effect on the evolution of
the patients’ health status led us to claim the following: the origin, the age and the clinical status of the
patients presented a significant association with the death, with relative risks of: 2.15 [CI95% : 1.21-6.43], 3.55
[CI95% : 1, 32-8,73], [1.11-3.89] 1.93 [CI95% : 1.11-3.89] respectively.