Anyone with kids knows they tend to try and put anything and everything in their mouths, and it seems more and more kids are actually swallowing those things these days.
A new study published in the journal “Pediatrics” finds that the rate at which kids have been swallowing things has been dramatically rising over the past twenty years, with battery ingestions rising “rather dramatically.”
The study conducted by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio found that from 1995 to 2015, more than 759,000 kids were taken to hospital emergency rooms for “foreign-body ingestions,” with the study’s author noting that averages to about 99 children every day. Those numbers translate to about 4.4% every year.
As for what they are swallowing, here are some of the most common items:
- Coins– about 61% of cases, with pennies the most common coin, followed by quarters
- Toys– 10% of cases, with marbles the most commonly ingested
- Jewelry– 7% of cases, with girls 2.5 times more likely than boys to swallow jewelry
- Batteries– they represent less than 7% of cases, but they are the second-most likely to send kids to the ER. In more than 85% of cases, the battery swallowed was a button battery, which can cause tissue burns, or even death if they get stuck in the throat.
- Magnets– represents 2% of cases, which could be seriously dangerous if more than one is swallowed and they attract each other.
Source:Today