More than 4,500 Davis County residents reported poisoning in 2003, according to the 2003 Utah Poison Control Center (UPCC).
That total amounts to about 11 percent of all the calls received statewide to report exposure to poisons.
The UPCC released its 2003 annual report which shows that the rate of reporting in Davis County, based on the population was 17.7 per 1,000 residents, more than twice the national average of 8.2 and a little above the state average of 17.1 percent.
Davis County's numbers were far lower than Salt Lake and Utah counties numbers, but higher than Weber County's.The center took nearly 16,000 calls from SaltLake County residents; just over 8,000 from Utah County and only 3,000 from Weber County residents.
Only 16 percent of poison victims wound up being treated in an acute care facility statewide. Two hundred and fifty- six cases were treated at Layton's Davis Hospital and Medical Center, while 145 were treated at Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful. Most poisons were handled on-site with a telephone follow-up.
The PPCC is a 24-hour response for poison information, clinical toxicology, consultation and poison prevention education, established in 1971. Since then UPCC has responded to more than one million calls.
The report shows more than 42,500 actual poisons exposures being responded to by pharmacists at the center. Of those, nearly 1,500 involved animals, mostly dogs and cats. The center received another 11,000 for information on everything from drug information to substance abuse.
The vast majority of poisonings occurred in homes, with lesser numbers occurring at work, other public areas, restaurants, schools and health care facilities.
Some 62 percent of calls were for children under 6 years of age, with 22 percent in the 22 to 59 years old category.
The report shows that most poisonings were unintentional and involved children "orally exploring their environment." Children younger than 6 were most often treated for ingesting cosmetics and personal care items; those 6-12 most often were treated for ingesting foreign bodies/toys and among those 13-19 and among adults, analgesics were most prevalent. Ibuprofen was the most common analgesic involved in a poison exposure, accounting for 3.6 percent of calls.
The majority of poison exposures in adults were also unintended and often involved taking the wrong dose or the wrong medication as well as exposure to skin and eyes of household chemicals, pesticides and automotive products.