For 40 years Poison Centers have led the national in publishing and tracking poison-related public health data

America's Poison Centers releases the 2022 Annual Report of the National Poison Data System (NPDS), marking 40 years of publishing poison-related data trends in the United States. America's Poison Centers have published Annual Reports since 1983, providing expertise and educational information in managing increasing numbers of more serious poison exposures. The first Annual Report was published with the data of just 16 poison centers. Today, the National Poison Data System is the nations only near real-time poisoning data surveillance system, integrating the latest information from all 55 U.S. Poison Centers.

Through the Poison Help line and website (poisonhelp.org), America's Poison Centers serves the entire population of the United States, providing free, expert, and confidential poison help 24/7/365. In 2022, U.S. Poison Centers responded to 2,427,974 total cases, on average receiving a new case every 15 seconds. The most common exposure substances were analgesics, household cleaning substances, antidepressants, cosmetics/personal care products, and antihistamines.

“Unintentional and intentional exposures continue to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S., highlighting a clear need for specialized medical toxicology information to manage the increasing number of more serious exposures,” said Carol DesLauriers, PharmD, DABAT,  board president of America’s of Poison Centers and leader of the Illinois Poison Center. “Through NPDS we provide a critical nationwide infrastructure for surveillance that allows us to identify exposures of all kinds, including emerging public health threats, such as fentanyl and Delta-8 THC.”

2022 Annual Report highlights include:

• 24 percent of cases were reported from health care facilities in 2022. There has been a consistent increase in recent years of exposure cases reported from health care facilities, as well as cases with more serious outcomes.

• Fentanyl was identified as an emerging public health threat. Since 2000, Poison Centers have documented a total of 53,144 fentanyl exposures, which have continued to increase over the years with a significant shift from prescription fentanyl to non-prescription (illicit) fentanyl. Analysis has demonstrated a strong correlation between the number of fentanyl exposures with more serious medical outcomes in NPDS and CDC wonder data on fentanyl-related deaths.

• In 2022, Poison Centers managed 3,358 exposures to Delta-8 THC, an increase of 82 percent from 2021. This demonstrates the growing use and popularity of Delta-8 THC products, which are available in many forms, including gummies, chocolate, candies, cookies, vaping cartridges, infused drinks, and even breakfast cereal.

For more information, or to read a full copy of the 2022 National Poison Data System Annual Report, visit: https://www.poisoncenters.org/annual-reports.

For poison-related questions or emergency assistance, contact:

• Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 to speak with a poison expert, or

• Visit PoisonHelp.org (the official website for America’s Poison Centers) for resources and support.

Contact:

Maggie Maloney

America’s Poison Centers

Sr. Director of External Affairs

maloney@poisoncenters.org