Retrospective study on Romanian foreign bodies injuries in children

BACKGROUND: Foreign bodies (FB) injuries are an issue that has been recognized and investigated since many years; despite that, the impact of this subject in literature and research is still small. Such kind of injuries identifies all incidents due to ingestion, inhalation, insertion and aspiration of an object into the aero digestive tract. FBs injuries located in the upper airways can be a very serious event, sometimes resulting in fatal outcome. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on FB injuries in the aerodigestive tract in paediatric patients 1-17 years old, recorded from the ENT Department of the M. S. Curie Hospital in Bucharest. RESULTS: 455 cases were reported from the M. S. Curie Hospital, ENT Department. Prevalence in female patients is higher than the males (225 males and 230 females). Mean age observed was 4.12 years. The distribution of injuries according to the retrieval location showed a higher prevalence in the nose (44.62% of cases), with a higher occurrence in females (50.74%) followed by the digestive system (24.28% of cases) were the distribution between males and females is equal. The highest prevalence was represented by nuts and seed (23.96%), followed by marble and coins (respectively 12.75% and 12.53%). CONCLUSIONS: As generally described in scientific literature, injuries usually concerned toddlers and preschoolers, while school-aged children less often place foreign objects in their noses. Our results confirm the fact that when passive preventive strategies are not practical, active strategies that promote behaviour change are necessary. Active strategies require that a caregiver changes his or her behaviour each time the child begins an activity that has the potential to cause injury. Education is critical to these active strategies and plays a complementary role to environmental changes and legal mandates.