Citation

Timmers M, Snoek KG, Gregori D, Felix JF, van Dijk M, van As SA. Pediatr. Emerg. Care 2012; 28(12): 1348-1352.

Affiliation

From the *Sophia Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; †Laboratories of Epidemiological Methods and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, University of Padova, Padua, Italy; ‡Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany; and §Department of Pediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PEC.0b013e318276c20e

PMID

23187996

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Foreign body-related pediatric trauma has a high incidence, but studies with large data sets are rare and typically stem from Western settings. The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of foreign body-related trauma in children treated at our trauma unit in South Africa. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we analyzed all foreign body-related trauma admissions from 1991 to 2009. We collected detailed data including age, sex, type of foreign body, injury severity, and anatomical location of the foreign body. RESULTS: We analysed 8149 cases. Marginally more boys (54.9%) than girls were involved. The overall median age was 3 years (interquartile range, 2-6 years); 78.8% were younger than 7 years. The predominant anatomical sites were the respiratory tract and the gastrointestinal tract (39.1%); ears (23.9%); nose (19.4%); and extremities (8.8%). The commonest objects were coins (20.8 %), (parts of) jewelry (9.5%), and food (8.7%). Three quarters (74.5%) of patients presented between 1 and 2 hours after the injury (median, 1 hour). A total of 164 cases (2.0%) were marked as possible child abuse; 17 cases were filed as confirmed child abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Preventive parent education programs targeting foreign body-related injury should mainly focus on both sexes younger than 7 years. Parents should be taught to keep small objects out of reach of young children, especially coins, because these most often result in a trauma unit visit.

Language: en