Table 2.
Ocular exposures associated with household cleaning products by product subcategory and medical outcome, National Poison Data System 2000–2016
| Product subcategories/generic product namesb | Exposures followed to known medical outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totala | No effect | Minor effect | Moderate effect | Major effect | |
| n (col. %)c | n (row %)d | n (row %)d | n (row %)d | n (row %)d | |
| Bleaches | 82,599 (25.9) | 2222 (4.3) | 43,651 (84.2) | 5893 (11.4) | 64 (0.1) |
| Hypochlorite (liquid and dry) | 80,153 (25.1) | 2127 (2.7) | 42,390 (52.9) | 5720 (7.1) | 58 (0.1) |
| Miscellaneous Cleaners | 48,146 (15.1) | 2186 (6.9) | 25,436 (80.0) | 4100 (12.9) | 87 (0.3) |
| Miscellaneous cleaning agents: alkalis | 13,278 (4.2) | 568 (4.3) | 7049 (53.1) | 1593 (12.0) | 43 (0.3) |
| Miscellaneous cleaning agents: anionics or nonionics | 8689 (2.7) | 361 (4.2) | 4690 (54.0) | 592 (6.8) | 17 (0.2) |
| Miscellaneous cleaning agents: cationics | 6152 (1.9) | 195 (3.2) | 3034 (49.3) | 771 (12.5) | 15 (0.2) |
| Miscellaneous cleaning agents: isopropanol (excluding automotive products and glass) | 5831 (1.8) | 323 (5.5) | 3051 (52.3) | 156 (2.7) | 1 (0.0) |
| Miscellaneous cleaning agents: other or unknown household cleaning agents | 7987 (2.5) | 434 (5.4) | 4245 (53.1) | 579 (7.2) | 10 (0.1) |
| Wall/floor/tile cleaners | 42,841 (13.4) | 2343 (8.1) | 23,498 (81.3) | 2990 (10.3) | 64 (0.2) |
| Wall/floor/tile/all-purpose Cleaning agents: acids | 7717 (2.4) | 437 (5.7) | 4609 (59.7) | 517 (6.7) | 13 (0.2) |
| Wall/floor/tile/all-purpose cleaning agents: alkalis | 17,953 (5.6) | 961 (5.4) | 9651 (53.8) | 1404 (7.8) | 33 (0.2) |
| Wall/floor/tile/all-purpose cleaning agents: anionics or nonionics | 6616 (2.1) | 329 (5.0) | 3530 (53.4) | 546 (8.3) | 5 (0.1) |
| Wall/floor/tile/all-purpose cleaning agents: cationics | 4680 (1.5) | 236 (5.0) | 2427 (51.9) | 218 (4.7) | 4 (0.1) |
| Disinfectants | 34,591 (10.8) | 1,508 (6.9) | 18,174 (82.7) | 2263 (10.3) | 41 (0.2) |
| Disinfectants: hypochlorite (non-bleach products) | 13,820 (4.3) | 395 (2.9) | 6749 (48.8) | 1207 (8.7) | 20 (0.1) |
| Disinfectants: other or unknown | 14,273 (4.5) | 781 (5.5) | 7895 (55.3) | 697 (4.9) | 10 (0.1) |
| Disinfectants: phenol | 3110 (1.0) | 170 (5.5) | 1763 (56.7) | 145 (4.7) | 7 (0.2) |
| Disinfectants: pine oil | 3388 (1.1) | 162 (4.8) | 1767 (52.2) | 214 (6.3) | 4 (0.1) |
| Laundry detergents | 19,338 (6.1) | 440 (3.4) | 10,398 (80.8) | 1983 (15.4) | 41 (0.3) |
| Laundry detergents: granules (various containers) | 6258 (2.0) | 173 (2.8) | 3493 (55.8) | 401 (6.4) | 7 (0.1) |
| Laundry detergents: liquids (unit dose) | 5020 (1.6) | 94 (1.9) | 2745 (54.7) | 778 (15.5) | 20 (0.4) |
| Laundry detergents: liquids (various containers) | 7502 (2.3) | 156 (2.1) | 3854 (51.4) | 737 (9.8) | 13 (0.2) |
| Glass cleaners | 16,825 (5.3) | 1497 (13.7) | 8961 (82.1) | 452 (4.1) | 4 (0.0) |
| Glass cleaners: ammonia containing | 8833 (2.8) | 880 (10.0) | 4737 (53.6) | 181 (2.0) | 2 (0.0) |
| Glass cleaners: isopropanol | 4894 (1.5) | 363 (7.4) | 2587 (52.9) | 144 (2.9) | 2 (0.0) |
| Toilet bowl cleaners | 14,911 (4.7) | 517 (4.7) | 8937 (81.8) | 1450 (13.3) | 19 (0.2) |
| Toilet bowl cleaners: acids | 8845 (2.8) | 287 (3.2) | 5665 (64.0) | 932 (10.5) | 10 (0.1) |
| Toilet bowl cleaners: alkalis | 4082 (1.3) | 148 (3.6) | 2223 (54.5) | 363 (8.9) | 6 (0.1) |
| Laundry prewash/stain removers | 13,324 (4.2) | 681 (7.3) | 7481 (80.5) | 1103 (11.9) | 23 (0.2) |
| Laundry prewash/stain removers: liquid surfactant based | 4458 (1.4) | 204 (4.6) | 2406 (54.0) | 491 (11.0) | 10 (0.2) |
| Laundry prewash/stain removers: other or unknown | 5665 (1.8) | 303 (5.3) | 3273 (57.8) | 301 (5.3) | 7 (0.1) |
| Miscellaneous cleaning substances (household) | 9050 (2.8) | 574 (9.7) | 4879 (82.2) | 468 (7.9) | 11 (0.2) |
| Carpet, upholstery, leather, or vinyl cleaners | 6326 (2.0) | 8 (0.0) | 3478 (1.1) | 304 (0.1) | 416 (0.1) |
| Hand dishwashing | 7312 (2.3) | 176 (3.8) | 4013 (85.6) | 491 (10.5) | 7 (0.1) |
| Anionic or nonionic hand dishwashing detergents | 5511 (1.7) | 135 (2.4) | 3091 (56.1) | 369 (6.7) | 7 (0.1) |
| Oven cleaners | 5968 (1.9) | 183 (4.4) | 2691 (65.1) | 1210 (29.3) | 47 (1.1) |
| Oven cleaners: alkalis | 5203 (1.6) | 161 (3.1) | 2358 (45.3) | 1083 (20.8) | 41 (0.8) |
| Cleansers | 5712 (1.8) | 287 (7.8) | 2942 (79.5) | 466 (12.6) | 7 (0.2) |
| Other types/unknown household cleaners | 3532 (1.1) | 177 (5.0) | 1762 (49.9) | 330 (9.3) | 6 (0.2) |
| Drain cleaners | 5401 (1.7) | 158 (4.3) | 2474 (68.0) | 957 (26.3) | 50 (1.4) |
| Drain cleaners-alkalis | 4009 (1.3) | 104 (2.6) | 1807 (45.1) | 736 (18.4) | 43 (1.1) |
| Automatic dishwasher detergents | 5201 (1.6) | 140 (4.1) | 2782 (80.8) | 505 (14.7) | 14 (0.4) |
| Spot removers/dry cleaning agents | 2820 (0.9) | 149 (8.1) | 1538 (83.2) | 160 (8.7) | 2 (0.1) |
| Laundry additives | 2412 (0.8) | 145 (9.1) | 1324 (82.6) | 128 (8.0) | 5 (0.3) |
| Rust removers | 1855 (0.6) | 61 (4.5) | 1033 (76.0) | 261 (19.2) | 4 (0.3) |
| Fabric softeners/antistatic agents | 1202 (0.4) | 76 (9.7) | 656 (83.7) | 52 (6.6) | 0 (0.0) |
| Total | 319,508 (100.0) | 13,343 (6.4) | 170,868 (81.5) | 24,932 (11.9) | 490 (0.2) |
aTotal includes exposures with medical outcomes of “not followed (minimal clinical effects possible)” and “unable to follow, judged as a potentially toxic exposure”
bSelected generic products were included if they accounted for ≥1% of all exposures
cColumn percentages were calculated using the total number of exposures as the denominator
dRow percentages for each product were calculated using only the total number of exposures followed to a known medical outcome