By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, March 8, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Opioids pose the greatest poison risk to children in the United States, accounting for more than half of poisoning deaths in infants and toddlers, a new study reports.
About 52% of poisoning deaths of children aged 5 and younger in 2018 involved the ingestion of an opioid, according to findings published online March 8 in the journal Pediatrics.
“In fact, it has doubled since 2005, when about 24% of all poisoning deaths were attributable to opioids,” said lead researcher Dr. Christopher Gaw, a pediatric emergency physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Experts chalk…
