Prevalence of Foreign Body Aspiration in Children in a Tertiary Care Hospital

INTRODUCTION: Foreign body aspiration is a common problem in children with significant mortality and morbidity. This study aims to determine the prevalence of foreign body aspiration in children in a tertiary care hospital of Nepal. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital from April 2010 to March 2016 after obtaining ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number- 08(6-11)E277/78). All children of age up to 15 years with suspected foreign body aspiration were included. The data was collected from the medical record section and entered in Microsoft Excel. The descriptive statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 26,294 patients were included in the study. The prevalence of foreign body aspiration in children was found to be 98 (0.37%). On rigid bronchoscopy, 82 patients (83.6%) were confirmed to have a foreign body in the airway. The peak incidence of foreign body aspiration was seen in patients of age group one to two years. The commonest foreign body in the airway was a peanut. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of foreign body aspiration in children was low, which is similar to other studies. Foreign body aspiration may lead to dreadful complications. Therefore, both the clinicians and the public need to be cautious about it.