Drug-related poisonings send hundreds of thousands of people to emergency rooms every year in the United States, including many people who have overdosed on prescription medications, a new study indicates.

The study also found that children aged 5 and younger had a higher rate of emergency department visits for unintentional drug-related poisonings than all other age groups.

“Despite the fact that successful prevention strategies targeted at young children have helped to decrease the occurrence of drug-related poisonings in this population, the number of unintentional poisonings among this age group is still too high,” Gary Smith, MD, DrPH, of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, says in a statement.

The study, he says, reinforces the importance of stepping up efforts to prevent unintentional drug exposures among young children.