Saleem Sheikh, Tallat Mahmood, Amin Sheikh.
Foreign body in esophagus; role of parents in prevention.
Professional Med J Jan ;13(2):274-8.

Objectives. To study the attitude of parents about the coins given to their children, especially about their knowledge of coins that these may become F.B. in oesophagus and can cause an unexpected problem. Design: A questionnaire- based survey presented to parents of the children admitted in ENT ward having coin trapped in their oesophagus. Place and Duration of Study: ENT Department Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur from July 2004 to June 2005. Subjects and Methods: Parents of the children, who were admitted in ENT ward B.V.H, Bahawalpur, were interviewed using a questionnaire proforma focusing especially about the knowledge of parents about coins as a possibility of F Body. Ethical requirements including the administration of written informed consent and provision of confidentiality were ensured. SPSS computer software was used for data management. Results In our study 84 out of 100 patients were less then 7 years age. Sixty two were male and 38 were female children. Seventy four of the children we re from rural areas. Most of the parents were illiterate and of poor social class. Fifty nine had history less then 1 days and 28 had 1-3 days. Eighty eight patients were operated with one day. Most of the parents (54%) were anxious and worried Thirty five were ashamed while 11% were not bothered. Most of parents pointed out risk factors as easy availability of coin (78%), easy access of coin for children (56%), bad habit of children to put every object in mouth (42%) and lack of knowledge of parents about the risk of coin as foreign body in esophagus (88%). Future commitments of the parents were noted as follows:-restriction of coin for children (60%) education of children (32%) and 8% of parents did not bother about care of children for this. Recommended Suggestion by parents were these Govt. Should ban (92%), role of press and newspaper (62%), role of T.V and radio. (74%), role of health workers to educate people (88%). Conclusion: In our setup, most of the parents are illiterate and unaware of the risk t hat the coin can become a foreign body in esophagus in children. They can be awarded and educated via media like press, television and radio and compaign by health workers. Incidence of these emergency cases can be reduced by these measures to negligible level.

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