Poison control centers and state-specific poisoning mortality rates

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to compare poisoning mortality rates of states served by a poison control center certified by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) to those that are not served by a certified center because health policy has been based on certification status. METHODS. Poisoning mortality rates from 1993 to 1997 were obtained from a public use database of death certificates and were stratified by state and circumstance. Each state was classified as being fully served, partially served, or not served by an AAPCC-certified center. States in one category of service for the entire 5 years were selected for analysis. RESULTS. During this 5-year period, 39 states exhibited a consistent category of poison control center services. The mortality rates per 100,000 population during these 5 years were 5.93, 6.12, 6.01, 6.23, and 6.68 respectively (P <0.05) for all 39 states. The mean 5-year mortality rate for states with certified poison control center services (7.08 +/- 2.59; n = 17) was higher (P <0.05) than those with noncertified service (5.17 +/- 1.46; n = 15) but not significantly different from those with partial certified service (6.25 +/- 1.75; n = 7). CONCLUSION. Increased poisoning mortality rates were associated with AAPCC certification status and year. Poisoning mortality rates may not be an appropriate outcome measure of the impact of poison control centers, AAPCC-certification notwithstanding, at this time. Basing poison control center-related policy on state-specific poisoning mortality rates can not be supported by these findings.