Toxicovigilance in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic
Brooke, Nicholas Carter, Gillian Jagpal, Pardeep Cook, Meghan Jones, Stephen Cole, David Harbon, Sian Donohoe, Elamin Elamin, Muhammad Thanacoody, Ruben
Brooke, Nicholas
Carter, Gillian
Jagpal, Pardeep
Cook, Meghan
Jones, Stephen
Cole, David
Harbon, Sian
Donohoe, Elamin
Elamin, Muhammad
Thanacoody, Ruben
Abstract
This study assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on enquiry numbers to the United Kingdom (UK) National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) to inform public health interventions. Phone enquiries were extracted and analysed from the UK Poisons Information Database (UKPID) in calendar years 2018 to 2020. Data collected included information on call, patient, and exposure characteristics for all enquiries and for specific enquiries involving selected agents of interest. During the first national lockdown there was a significant decrease in the proportion of enquiries about intentional exposures (20.6%) compared to pre lockdown (26%) and control periods (22.6%) (P < 0.001), potentially due to reluctance to attend healthcare facilities. Exposures regarding dental analgesics also increased significantly in lockdown (5.15%) compared to pre-lockdown (2.6%) and the control period (3.4%) (P < 0.001) likely due to limited access to dental services. Enquiries about hand sanitisers exposures showed a significant increase during lockdown (92) compared to pre-lockdown (32) and control (45) (P < 0.001) likely due to increased availability. No significant increases in exposures were identified for selected pharmaceuticals of interest and only a small number of enquiries relating to exposures with essential oils, methanol, Chinese herbal medicines antihistamines and deliberate bleach ingestion which offered reassurance from a public health perspective. This data led to public health interventions such as tweets, updates to guidance and advice to healthcare professionals and the public. Toxicovigilance is a key public health tool and poison centre enquiry data is helpful in identifying toxic exposures for any future pandemics or large-scale chemical incident.
MIDER Authors
Jagpal, Pardeep
Elamin, Muhammad
Elamin, Muhammad
Affiliations
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust; UK Health Security Agency; University Hospital, Llandough; UK National Poisons Information Service, Newcastle Unit
Citations
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Date
2025-12-14
Type
Article
Subject
Collections
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Citation
Brooke N, Carter G, Jagpal P, Cook M, Jones S, Cole D, Harbon S, Donohoe E, Elamin M, Thanacoody R, Duarte-Davidson R. Toxicovigilance in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Toxicol Res (Camb). 2025 Dec 14;14(6):tfaf177. doi: 10.1093/toxres/tfaf177. Erratum in: Toxicol Res (Camb). 2026 Feb 02;15(1):tfag006. doi: 10.1093/toxres/tfag006