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Mental health problems among youth have escalated over the past decade, with increased rates of self-harm, including suicide attempts by ingestion. Social media use has been linked to youth mental health, including "challenges" urging youth to ingest substances for recreational and other purposes. We hypothesized that social media challenges for particular substances would temporally correspond with increased ingestions of these substances. We identified peak Google Trends search times for social media ingestion challenges involving diphenhydramine, laundry pods, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and used data from America's Poison Centers National Poison Data System to plot reported ingestions 3 months before and after peak searches in school-aged children. There were 2,169 individuals in the analysis. Diphenhydramine was the most frequently reported ingestion for misuse/abuse and suicidal purposes (n = 266 and 1,609, respectively). For all ingestions together, 45 percent (n = 979) had a moderate health effect, and 6.35 percent (n = 137) had a major health effect. Time of peak searches corresponded with increased ingestions for each substance. We found a temporal relationship between peak Google Trends searches for ingestion challenges and ingestions of that substance reported to United States poison centers. Compared to misuse/abuse ingestions, most suicidal ingestions peaked 1–2 months later, suggesting a public health opportunity for intervention. This retrospective observational study does not establish causal effect. All data are a result of self-reporting of the exposures, which may lead to a reporting bias. Google Trends is not the only search engine and likely underestimates the true incidence of social media posts. Additional research is needed on the relationship between social media and youth mental health, particularly around "challenges" that place youths' health at risk. There may be opportunities for intervention to decrease medical and mental health sequelae of these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood and adolescent misuse and abuse exposures remain a serious public health challenge in the United States. This study aimed to describe recent trends and patterns of intentional substance misuse and abuse exposures among school-aged children and adolescents in the United States. This study was a retrospective cohort study of intentional misuse and abuse exposures in children 6 through 18 years reported to the National Poison Data System (NPDS) from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2020. Demographic trends, reported clinical effects, treatments, management sites, and health outcomes were assessed overall and within four age categories: 6–9, 10–12, 13–15, and 16–18. Between 2000 and 2020, there were 338,727 cases regarding intentional misuse and abuse exposures for children ages 6 through 18 years old. Overall, misuse/abuse ingestions fluctuated over time, with a peak in 2011. The majority of intentional misuse/abuse ingestions occurred in males (58.3%), and more than 80% of all reported exposure cases occurred in youth aged 13 to 18. 32.6% of ingestions resulted in worse than minor clinical outcomes. Older age groups had a greater number of severe medical outcomes compared to younger age groups. Major or life-threatening exposures (including those resulting in death) were more common in males. Overall, deaths were rare (n = 450), 0.1%). Male sex, older age, abuse ingestions, exposure site of a public area or other residence, and multiple ingested substances were other factors associated with increased mortality. Marijuana exposure rates had the highest average monthly increase overall, with the most dramatic rise occurring from 2017 to 2020. Edible marijuana preparations accounted for the highest increase in call rates compared with all other forms of marijuana. With over 330,000 poison center cases reported during the 20-year study period, intentional substance misuse and abuse exposures substantially impact the pediatric population. The substances most commonly misused/abused are more widely available substances such as over-the-counter medications, household products and pharmaceuticals commonly prescribed to youth. Differences in age and sex were evident, with males and adolescents more likely to abuse and misuse substances. Our study describes an upward trend in marijuana misuse/abuse exposures among youth, especially those involving edible products. These findings highlight an ongoing concern about the impact of rapidly evolving cannabis legalization on this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Suicide attempts by adolescents most commonly involve the overdose of medications. To date, there has been little information on the over-the-counter or prescription medicines that adolescents ingest for self-harm. Identification of medications chosen in suicide attempts may help guide anticipatory guidance to parents by primary care providers and Poison Centers in prevention programs. Methods This was a retrospective observational study using the American Association of Poison Control Center's National Poison Data System. Data were collected on patients aged 13–19 years old at the time of their substance ingestion, between the years 2004 and 2013 and that were coded as reason for ingestion of “intentional-suspected suicide.” Results During the 10-year study period, there were 390,560 poison center calls for intentional-suspected suicide in the United States between 2004 and 2013, accounting for 80.3% of all “intentional” ingestion calls in the adolescent population. Over the entire age range, the most common substance ingested included acetaminophen (10.9%), ibuprofen (9%), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (7.7%), atypical antipsychotic (6%), and antihistamines (5%). The most common medications coded as resulting in major clinical effects or death were antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics. Conclusions Adolescent ingestion choices for suicide attempts have remained relatively consistent over the past 10 years. However, there was a recent decrease in selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor ingestions. The most common medications used in an overdose attempt were ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Further preventative efforts are needed in this at-risk population from multiple providers at various levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Opioid abuse is a public health epidemic in the United States. Much literature has focused on the prescribing practices of physicians and opioid misuse by adults. However, there are limited data on the effect of opioid prescriptions on adolescent recreational ingestion of these medications.Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess for a relationship between opioid prescribing practices across the United States and adolescent opioid ingestion calls to poison centers.Methods: This was an observational study using the National Poison Data System. The study population consisted of poison center calls regarding adolescents between 2005 and 2010 in the database with a coding of "intentional abuse" and an opioid ingestion. National opioid prescription estimates were generated using nationally representative outpatient and inpatient databases.Results: There were 4186 adolescent opioid ingestion calls during the study period. There was a general increase between 2005 and 2010 in both teen opioid abuse calls (617 in 2005 to 782 in 2010) and national opioid prescriptions (approximately 78 million in 2005 to 108 million in 2010). For each opioid prescription increase per 100 persons per year, the annual teen opioid abuse calls increased by 1.8% (95% confidence interval 0.9-2.8%), equivalent to an absolute increase of about 0.04 to 0.05 calls per 100,000 teens annually.Conclusions: There appears to be an association between opioid prescriptions nationally and poison center calls for adolescent opioid ingestions. This is particularly important in this patient population because of impulsivity and early exposure to substance abuse. Providers should be aware of the nonmedical use of opioids by adolescents and educate patients accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]