Citation

Gregori D. Int. J. Pediatr. Otorhinolaryngol. 2006; 70(9): 1663-1664.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Microbiology, University of Torino, Via Santena 5bis, 10126 Torino, Italy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijporl.2006.05.013

PMID

16828886

Abstract

The European Survey on Foreign Body Injuries (ESFBI) Study, carried out under the advice of the EUFOS Board, has been concluded and the main results have been extensively presented at a successful Symposium at the XVIII World Congress of International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies in Rome in June 2005. This cooperative study, collecting data on 2103 cases in 19 countries in Europe, was a multi-center retrospective survey based on discharge records, in the main hospitals of the capitals of the participating countries.

The outcome of the study was impressive, showing, among other things, the key importance of education in preventing chocking injuries. Indeed, 48.9% of the accidents resulted to occur under the supervision of adults, and 58.6% when the child is playing. It has also to be pointed out that, even for more serious injuries, like the ingestion of batteries, which are known to pose a great risk of fistulae and hemorrhages, the transmission of the case to the hospital was not following the necessary criteria of urgency, with a significant percentage of the cases referred to the hospital with delay.

One of the natural consequences of the ESFBI was the decision to move toward a prospective data collection system on choking injuries to be spread around Europe. This project became a reality when the DGSANCO, Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection, took the decision to fund this initiative, which is now carried out by a cooperative effort with the Italian Ministry of Industry. The project is scientifically leaded by the Department of Public Health and Microbiology at the University of Torino, with the cooperation of the Competition and Consumers Protection Service, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Cyprus, the Charite Universitatmedizin, Berlin, Germany, the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Finland, jointly with the Helsinki University Central Hospital and the Commission de la Securite des Consommateurs, France.

The fundamental goals of the project are:

- to provide the scientific community with updated and validated data;

- to provide a risk-analysis profile for each of the products causing the injury;

- to provide an evaluation of how socio-economic disparities among EU citizens may affect the likelihood of being injured by FB ingestion, with the aim of implementing specific educational activities on safe behavior and active parental guard with regards to the specific products causing the injury;

- to involve, as appropriate, Consumer Associations and/or National Market Surveillance Authorities in data collection and proper education of consumers.

The goal is to have a data collection system spread around, but not necessarily limited to, Europe, gathering details on foreign body injuries occurred in children aged 0-14 in the upper aero-digestive tract, on the circumstances of the injury, which were the clinical or surgical treatments administered to the child, and finally on the characteristics of the foreign body.

Language: en