ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1621891
This article is part of the Research TopicNavigating Child Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion: Strategies, Evidence, and Sustainable TransformationsView all articles
Epidemiology and clinical aspect of pediatric mushroom poisonings: A 15-year retrospective analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
- 2Department of Pediatric, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
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Background: Mushroom poisoning is a significant public health concern, particularly in pediatric populations, where developmental differences in toxin metabolism and organ vulnerability pose unique clinical challenges. Despite its geographic and seasonal patterns, pediatric mushroom poisoning remains underrepresented in the literature, necessitating further investigation into its epidemiological and clinical characteristics.Methods: This 15-year retrospective cohort study analyzed 73 pediatric cases (aged ≤14 years) of mushroom poisoning at a tertiary hospital in Southwest China. Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory data were collected, and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 26.0.Results: Epidemiological data revealed seasonal clustering in summer and autumn, predominantly affecting older children (≥7 years). Boletus spp. accounted for most cases (71.2%), followed by Amanita (8.2%). Clinical presentations included gastrointestinal (72.6%) and neurotoxic symptoms (69.9%), with hallucinations more prevalent in non-liver injury cases (56.9% vs. 0%, p=0.02). Severe hepatic injury, marked by elevated liver enzymes (ALT, AST, LDH) and coagulation dysfunction (APTT, PT), correlated with higher HOPE6 scores (≥3) and 100% mortality (4 deaths). The HOPE6 scoring system demonstrated prognostic utility, with a pediatric-specific threshold (≥3) predicting adverse outcomes, contrasting with adult thresholds (≥2).This study highlights the critical role of hepatic injury in mortality and underscores age-dependent variations in clinical thresholds for risk stratification in pediatric mushroom poisoning. Early intensive care is advocated to improve outcomes. Future research should focus on multicenter prospective cohorts to further validate these findings and assess therapeutic interventions.
Keywords: pediatric, Mushroom Poisoning, HOPE6 scoring system, Epidemiology, clinical manifestations
Received: 02 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, He and Miao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shan He, Department of Pediatric, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
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