said Preethi Govindarajan of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and his associates.
Since January 2015, pediatric exposures to liquid nicotine have decreased, which may be attributable to legislation requiring child-resistant packaging for liquid nicotine containers and also greater public awareness of the risks associated with e-cigarette products, they noted.
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There was a significant increase in the monthly number of liquid nicotine exposures of 2,390% (P less than .001) from November 2012 through January 2015, and a significant decrease of 48% (P less than .001) from January 2015 through April 2017. “From August 2016 (175 exposures), the first month after the federal Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act went into effect, to April 2017 (142 exposures), there was an 18.9% decrease in the number of monthly liquid nicotine exposures,” Mr. Govindarajan and his associates said.
“Child-resistant e-cigarette devices, use of flow restrictors on liquid nicotine containers, and regulations on e-cigarette liquid flavoring, labeling, and concentrations could further reduce the incidence of these exposures and the likelihood of serious medical outcomes when exposures do occur,” they concluded.
SOURCE: Govindarajan P et al. Pediatrics. 2018;141(5):e20173361.