Factors associated with complications of foreign body ingestion and/or aspiration in children from a Peruvian hospital

OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors associated with complications of foreign body ingestion and/or aspiration in children from a hospital in the Peruvian social security program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational, retrospective, analytical, and transverse study was undertaken. Medical records of patients under the age of 14 years old, who were admitted to the National Hospital Edgardo Rebagliati Martins between January 2013 and May 2017, and treated with a diagnosis of foreign body in the digestive or respiratory tract, were selected. Variables that characterized the foreign body ingestion and/or aspiration were assessed. STATA v11.1 was used for all subsequent statistical analyzes. RESULTS: A total of 322 cases met the inclusion criteria and the median age of the cohort was 4 years old (interquartile range: 2–6). The most frequently ingested foreign bodies were coins (∼59%) and batteries (∼10%). Fifty-four cases (∼17%) were classed as having a complication. In the multivariate analysis, we observed that the frequency of complications increased when the ingested object was a battery (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR): 2.89; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.52–3.32; p-value<0.001), when the time elapsed prior to diagnosis was 8–16 h (aPR: 2.23; 95% CI: 2.18–2.28; p-value<0.001), and when the child was male (aPR: 1.85; 95% CI: 1.24–2.74; p-value = 0.002). However, the frequency decreased in cases where foreign bodies were lodged in the nose (aPR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.97–0.98; p-value<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Whilst the most frequently ingested foreign bodies in this study were coins, complications were more common in cases of battery ingestion and in those where the diagnosis was made after 8 h.