A review of 4652 exposures to liquid laundry detergent capsules reported to the United Kingdom National Poisons Information Service 2008-2018
Introduction: Liquid laundry detergent capsules contain concentrated liquid laundry detergent in a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol membrane. Objective: To review 4652 exposures reported to the United Kingdom National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) and to assess the impact of regulatory changes o...
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Published in | Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.) Vol. 57; no. 12; pp. 1146 - 1153 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Taylor & Francis
02.12.2019
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Introduction: Liquid laundry detergent capsules contain concentrated liquid laundry detergent in a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol membrane.
Objective: To review 4652 exposures reported to the United Kingdom National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) and to assess the impact of regulatory changes on potential toxicity.
Methods: Telephone enquiries to the NPIS and returned questionnaires for these products were analyzed for the period January 2008 to December 2018.
Results: Data on 4652 exposures were reported by telephone or questionnaire, of which 95.4% involved children aged ≤5 years. Overall, 1738 of 4594 patients remained asymptomatic (Poisoning Severity Score [PSS] 0), 2729 developed minor (PSS 1) features, 107 suffered moderate features (PSS 2), 19 were graded as severe (PSS 3) and one died. Ingestion was involved in most exposures (n = 4175): vomiting occurred in 46.5%, coughing occurred in 4.3% and central nervous system depression in 3.2%. Nine (0.2%) children were intubated and ventilated. The eye was exposed in 646 cases: 371 (59.8%) suffered conjunctivitis or eye irritation and 21 (3.4%) had keratitis/corneal damage, which persisted in one patient for 9 d. The skin was involved in 364 cases; in 127 (35.5%) minor dermal features developed including erythema, irritation and rash. The most commonly reported features in the 127 cases with PSS ≥2 were vomiting (n = 75), stridor (n = 34), CNS depression (n = 22), keratitis/corneal damage (n = 21), coughing (n = 18), conjunctivitis (n = 13), hypersalivation (n = 12), foaming from the mouth (n = 11) and hypoxemia (n = 11). However, respiratory features (stridor, hypoxemia, bronchospasm, respiratory distress, dyspnea, pulmonary aspiration and tachypnea) were the reason for grading 56 of 127 cases as PSS ≥2.
Conclusions: This large data set of 4652 exposures is reassuring in that 97.2% of exposures resulted in no or only minor features, only 107 patients suffered moderate features (PSS 2) and 19 severe (PSS 3) features; one patient died. |
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ISSN: | 1556-3650 1556-9519 |
DOI: | 10.1080/15563650.2019.1590586 |