What Do Saudi Children Ingest? A 10-Year Retrospective Analysis of Ingested Foreign Bodies From a Tertiary Care Center

Objectives Few studies investigated the correlation between foreign body (FB) ingestion and occurrence of complications. The local literature is limited to case reports and small case series on esophageal FBs. We conducted this study to identify the high-risk factors predisposing to complications among Saudi children ingesting FBs. Methods The medical records of 436 children (boys, 59.6%; mean age, 4.4 +/- 2.7 years) presenting to the emergency department (ED) between 2007 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Relative risk analysis of clinical variables was performed between 2 groups: The first group constituted children without FB-related complications (n = 389), and the second group included those with major complications (n = 14). Major complication was defined as any event associated with significant morbidity such as esophageal stricture, esophageal perforation, esophageal fistula, and intestinal perforation or fistula formation. Results Most of the 436 cases presented between ages 2 and 4 years (35.1%). Coin was the most commonly ingested FB (22.9%) followed by button battery (19.5%). Most of the ingested FBs passed spontaneously without intervention (69%). Upper endoscopy was performed in 121 cases (27.7%). By multivariate analysis, the variables that were significantly associated with major complications included the following: very young age group (0-2 years; odds ratio [OR], 11.5), button battery (OR, 4), FB impacted at upper esophagus (OR, 8.7), and longer time duration to visit the ED (OR, 14.7). Conclusion Button battery impaction at upper esophagus in very young children and delayed presentation to the ED were the most significant risk factors of FB-related complications.