Number of Teens and 20-Somethings Visiting Emergency Rooms for Drug and Other Poisonings Doubles Over Decade

The number of patients in their teens and 20s visiting emergency rooms due to drug or gas poisoning has increased approximately twofold over the past decade.

According to the "2025 Injury Type and Cause Statistics" released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, a total of 98,615 injury patients visited the emergency rooms of 29 participating hospitals last year.

Among all injury patients, poisoning patients accounted for 6,816, with women making up 60.5% of that group.

It was found that 69.4% of poisoning patients intentionally consumed or used poisonous substances.

By type of substance, therapeutic drugs accounted for 66.7%, followed by gas at 11.5%, and artificial toxic substances at 10.0%.

Breaking down poisoning patients by age group, those in their 20s were the most frequent at 18.1%, followed by teenagers at 15.8%.

The proportion of teenagers and 20-somethings among all poisoning patients nearly doubled over the decade, rising from 16.9% in 2015 to 33.9% last year.

In particular, the share of teenagers surged from 5.6% to 15.8%.

Meanwhile, among all causes of injuries, falls and slips were the most common at 40.0%.

They were followed by transport accidents at 15.5% and blunt trauma at 14.8%.

The proportion of falls and slips has continued to increase over the 10-year period, rising from 29.6% in 2015.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.