Emirati children are twice as likely to suffer accidental poisoning as expatriate children, according to a study by UAE University.
The team behind the research was led by Dr Sulaiman Bharwani, associate professor of paediatrics at UAEU, with the help of Dr Yasser Sharif from the Poison and Drug Information Centre (PDIC) in Abu Dhabi.
The study, Role of a Poison Centre in Reducing Unintentional Childhood Ingestion by Targeting Pre-Event Risk Factors, looked at 200 children aged 10 and under.
The findings showed that the accidental poison ingestion rate in the UAE is 2.35 per 1,000 children aged 10 and below. But the report noted that Emirati children were twice as prone to unintentional poisoning as children of other nationalities.
The study cast light on the role of the PDIC in raising awareness among parents in preventing such accidents.
