Foreign body ingestion and aspiration at a pediatric center in northern Iran

Aspiration or ingestion of foreign bodies (FBs) is a common health problem leading to hospitalization of children around the world. The purpose of this study was to detect the FBS of aspirated or swallowed in children.

The present cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 77 hospitalized children due to FBs aspirated or swallowed from 2008 to 2013 at Amirkola Childrenchr('39')s Hospital. Information including demographic profile, type of FBs and their location, clinical manifestations, treatment used and possible complications were extracted from their medical records, and the data were analyzed.

Out of 76 cases, 51 (67.1%) were boys; 47.4% of children were 1-2 years old (mean age 2.6±2.2 years), and 67.1% of the bodies were in the gastrointestinal tract. The most common FBs were foodstuff (42.1%), metallic bodies (39.5%) and non-metallic bodies (18.4%), respectively. The most common symptoms were cough (84%) in respiratory FBs and vomiting (57%) in gastrointestinal FBs. The mean duration of hospitalization was 74.8±57.1 hours in gastrointestinal FBs and 126.7±56 hours in respiratory FBs. There was a significant statistical relationship between location of FBs (p=0.000) and type of swallowed or aspirated bodies (p=0.041) with the duration of hospitalization. No mortality was observed.

Findings show that foodstuffs are the most abundant FBs aspirated or swallowed in children aged 1-2 years. Obviously, educating parents and caregivers to take required care of children, especially while eating in this particular age group, is a key element in reducing such injuries.