– Foreign body ingestion in children(<12 years) at a tertiary care hospital: a retrospective cohort study studying role of socioeconomic status and parental supervision.

Background- Foreign body ingestion is a long-standing problem concerning pediatric population. We aim to evaluate the correlation between the median time interval between ingestion of foreign body and arrival to the hospital with socioeconomic factors, effect of parental supervision and number of children in the family. We also aim to find out the deciding factors for proper selection of method of removal of ingested foreign bodies. Methods- The data was collected from patient’s admission files, medical and endoscopic records. Chi-square test was used to calculate the corelation of time since ingestion with the socioeconomic status of family, method of removal of foreign body with location of impaction, method of removal with time passed since ingestion and socioeconomic status with effect of parental supervision Results- After analysing 104 cases of foreign body ingestion (FBI), a statistically significant association between difference of time interval of ingestion of foreign body and arrival to the hospital with socioeconomic status of the family was found, that is 100% patients belonging to upper class presented to the hospital within 0 to 24 hours of ingestion of foreign body. On the contrary, 71.5% patients belonging to lower class presented after 24 hours. In accordance to the statistically significant association between parental supervision and socioeconomic class, we established that 85.7% patients belonging to lower class had no parental supervision. Method of removal depends not on the time since ingestion rather on the level of impaction in the alimentary tract. Conclusions- It is essential to keep foreign body ingestion as an important differential when young children from lower socioeconomic class who lack parental supervision present with a sudden onset of obstructive GI symptoms. Educational strategies regarding safe behaviour to alleviate myths and false beliefs have a pioneer role in FBI prevention.