PEDIATRIC COIN INGESTION - A HOME-BASED SURVEY

To improve understanding of the natural history of pediatric coin inge stions, an anonymous, home-based mail survey of parents followed by a five-physician private pediatric practice in suburban Maryland was con ducted, Of 2,263 families surveyed, 798 (35.3%) responded, representin g 1,510 children, Sixty-one (4.0%, 95% confidence interval: 3.1% to 5. 1%) children had swallowed a coin, at a mean age of 2.8 years, Fifty-t wo (85%) coin ingestions were managed at home, usually without calling a physician or poison control center, Only 9 (15%) children were exam ined by a physician. No child (95% confidence interval: 0% to 4.9%) un derwent a removal procedure or had an adverse outcome, Most coin inges tions were found to have been managed at home, often without calling a physician or poison control center, Hospital- or poison control cente r-based studies underestimate coin ingestion incidence and overestimat e the frequency of complications. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company