Posted 12 June 2022
Melatonin, which is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a dietary supplement, is widely used as a sleep aid. According to an analysis of 260,435 reports of ingestion of melatonin by teenagers and preteens made to the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System from 2012 to 2021:
- 94.3% of the ingestions were unintentional
- 83.8% were among children under age six
- 17.2% involved symptoms, mostly of the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, or central nervous systems
- 99.0% occurred in the home
- 88.3% were managed on-site
- among 27,795 patients who received care at a health care facility, 19,892 (71.6%) were discharged, 4,097 (14.7%) were hospitalized, and 287 (1.0%) required intensive care
- most of the hospitalized were teenagers with intentional ingestions
- 4,555 (1.6%) resulted in more serious outcomes including five children who required mechanical ventilation and two died
- pediatric ingestion reports increased from 8,337 in