The share of patients in their teens and twenties among those treated in emergency rooms for poisoning from drugs, gases and other substances has roughly doubled over the past decade, data showed. The share of emergency room patients injured in falls also rose steadily over the same period, with falls from heights concentrated among younger patients and slips and falls among older adults.
A total of 98,615 injury patients visited emergency rooms at 29 hospitals surveyed last year, according to the 2025 injury type and cause statistics released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 26th. Of those, 6,816 were poisoning cases.
Six to Seven in 10 Poisoned by Medication
Some 69.4% of poisoning patients used the substance intentionally. Medication accounted for the largest share at 66.7%, followed by gases at 11.5%, synthetic toxic substances at 10.0% and pesticides at 9.4%.
By cause, 58.5% of poisoning cases were suicide attempts and 26.1% were general accidents. Only 4.1% involved therapeutic use. By age, people in their 20s made up the largest group at 18.1%, followed by teenagers at 15.8%.
Mental Health Support Needed for Young People
The combined share of teenagers and people in their 20s among poisoning patients rose from 16.9% in 2015 to 33.9% last year, roughly doubling over the decade. The share of teenagers alone climbed from 5.6% to 15.8%. An agency official said attention is needed for mental health support for adolescents and young adults and for the safe use of prescribed medication.
The substances involved have also shifted toward medication. The share of medication rose steadily from 44.0% in 2015 to 66.7% last year. Over the same period, gases fell from 20.6% to 11.5% and pesticides from 16.0% to 9.4%.
Watch for Children Falling From Heights and Older Adults Slipping
Falls were the leading cause of all injuries at 40.0%, followed by transport accidents at 15.5% and blunt-force injuries at 14.8%. The share of falls has risen continuously from 29.6% in 2015. Falls from heights were concentrated among younger patients, while slips and falls were concentrated among older adults. Of the 10,419 patients injured in falls from heights last year, 45.4% were under the age of 10.
"Because injury patterns differ by age group, accurately grasping those characteristics is the starting point for prevention," said Lim Seung-kwan, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. "We will pursue effective injury prevention and management policies based on scientific evidence."
The injury statistics are available on the National Injury Data Portal.
