UAB study showcases poisoning risk to small children from laundry pods

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/uoaa-uss062716.php

Public Release: 27-Jun-2016
UAB study showcases poisoning risk to small children from laundry pods
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Laundry pod detergents are far more likely to cause poisoning injuries in young children than are nonpod laundry detergents, and are four times more likely to lead to hospitalization, according to findings published today from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The study, published in Injury Prevention, estimates there were almost 36,000 cases of injury due to all types of laundry detergent in U.S. emergency departments between 2012 and 2014.

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There were an estimated 26,062 cases of nonpod detergent injuries seen in U.S. emergency departments, mostly cases of contact dermatitis or skin rashes. Pod detergents were responsible for an estimated 9,814 cases. Of those,71 percent were classified as poisoning, and 94 percent of all injuries were in children 5 years old or younger.

"The results of the current study suggest that pod-related exposures were more likely to result in hospitalization of the child, which is a marker of injury severity, and disproportionally affect children age 5 and younger," said Thomas Swain, a research assistant in the UAB Center for Injury Sciences and the first author of the study. "The high proportion of adolescents affected by both product types highlights the importance of product safety for both categories.

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"It is telling that the vast majority of pod-related emergency visits were in very young children, and most were classified as cases of poisoning," said Gerald McGwin, Ph.D., associate director of the CIS and vice chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. "Intriguingly, cases of eye injury were greater for pod detergents over nonpod products. The bottom line is that something as innocuous as doing the laundry can pose a significant danger, especially to small children."

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