Interpretation and uses of data collected in poison control centres in the United States.

Clinical toxicology and poison control have not benefited from the same epidemiological and demographical scrutiny that other health care disciplines have, because of the lack of a meaningful, appropriate database from which to undertake those analyses. Since the creation of the American Association of Poison Control Centers National Data Collection System in 1982 many of the former obstacles of data collection have been overcome. A system has been devised which apparently meets the needs of busy regional poison control centres willing to participate in data collection, and thus provide a large database of human poisoning experience. The data collected by poison control centres and maintained in the National Data Collection System afford a new, powerful tool with which to address issues of demography, epidemiology, risk assessment, product surveillance and regulatory affairs. While the system affords these potentials, certain limitations of the data must be understood so that the data are not misinterpreted. Additionally, we have attempted to identify strengths of the system as well as areas in need of improvement and refinement.