Foreign Bodies in Non-Life Threatening Locations: A Risk Analysis ofNose and Ears Foreign Bodies in European Children

Children with a foreign body (FB) in either the ear or nose commonly present to the hospital. We present a retrospective series of 1186 European cases of FB in ears or nose in children younger 14 years old, classified following the International Classification of Disease (ICD931 and ICD932). Data were collected through a case report form (CRF) during three years (2000-2002) according to four main characteristics (socio-demographic, ergonomic, related to the hospital's management and to the circumstance of the injury). Overall, 610 (53%) sampled children were males. In 704 (71%) of cases, FBs were inorganic and among themabout 36% were balls, marbles or beads. The study investigates FBs featuresand injuries circumstances that are associated to prolonged hospitalization and complications. The most dangerous FBs resulted in objects with rigid or semi-rigid consistency.