Abstract
Since children have immature bodily functions, they may be more susceptible to damage from chemical exposure accidents than adults. In this study, we investigated accidents related to indoor chemical exposure in children using major domestic product accident databases and tried to classify them using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System codes. In body parts, it was found that the parts of head and neck was the highest fraction of 33.8% of injuries in 0–19 age group. As for the type of injury, the most common type of injury was the skin disorder, including dermatitis and chemical burns, and the fraction was 61.1% in 0–19 age group. Besides, it was found that the product fields with many accidents were cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, architecture and furniture, and toys. Additionally, the estimate incidence for poisoning, dermatitis, and chemical burns for 0–19 age group, related to the extracted product codes, were approximately in the range of 1E-6 to 1E-5 (incidence / population / year). The expected risk values were generally in the range of 1E-11–1E-10 (lost-years per person / year), with no significant differences among diagnosis and product codes. A comparison of each age group showed that the codes related to toys and fabric treatment products for poisoning had 15 times and 9 times higher incidence and 6 times and 3 times higher expected risk values in the 1–4 age group, than those for all age group. This indicated that this age group and the corresponding diagnosis/product codes are of higher risk in indoor chemical exposure accidents.
