North Carolina Poisoning Statistics
From 2013-2017, 5,922 North Carolinians died due to unintentional opioid-involved poisonings.¹
- In 2020, NC Poison Control answered 79,940 calls and chats from the public and from healthcare providers across the state.
- One out of every 5 calls and chats about poison exposures were from doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers needing assistance with the diagnosis, management, and treatment of poisoned patients.
- Over 2/3 of the people who contacted us (71%) were managed right at the site of the call, which is usually at home.
- Pain relievers were the most commonly called about drug substance (10,406 cases).
- Household cleaners were the most commonly called about non-drug substance (7,544 cases).
View NC Poison Control's 2020 Annual Report for more detailed North Carolina poisoning statistics.
Click below to see previous biennial reports:
National Poisoning Statistics
In the United States, poisoning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death, and nearly 9 out of 10 poisoning deaths are caused by drugs.² View this injury grid highlighting the top causes of unintentional injury death.
- In the United States, on average, a poison control center receives a new encounter involving a human exposure about every 15 seconds.³
- In 2019, U.S. poison control centers received over 2.1 million poison exposure encounters, over 350,000 information encounters, and over 68,000 animal exposure encounters.³
- The death rate nationwide due to unintentional poisonings is 12.3 deaths per 100,000 population.4
- Although children under the age of 6 were involved in 43% of poisoning exposures in 2019, they comprised less than 1% of poisoning deaths. Most (62%) of deaths occurred among 20-59 year olds.³
- Cosmetics and personal care products were the most frequently involved substances in pediatric (5 years and younger) poisoning exposures in 2019.³
- Pain relievers were the most frequently involved substances in poisoning exposures overall in 2019.³
For more detailed national poisoning statistics, view the 2019 American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System's Annual Report.
1 Opioid-Involved Poisonings Fact Sheet; NC Dept. of Health & Human Services, Nov. 2018
2 NCHS Data Brief, No.81, Dec. 2011
3 2019 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS)
4 CDC FactStats: Accidents or Unintentional Injuries
