Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on foreign body ingestion in children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Foreign body ingestions (FBI) are a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits in children. We hypothesized that increased time spent at home by children due to COVID-19 restrictions could contribute to a rise in FBI ingestion rate and severity. Our primary objective was to evaluate the number of FBI cases at a Canadian tertiary paediatric hospital in Montreal during the pandemic as compared to the two previous years. Methods: Children assessed at CHU Sainte-Justine ED for FBI between March 2018-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and March 2020-February 2021 (pandemic) were included. FBI ratio was calculated by dividing the number of FBI cases by the total number of ED visits. Differences between the two groups were analyzed by Student's t-test or Chi-square test. Results: A total of 614 cases of FBI (median age, 3.5 years; 54% male) were included. The ratio of FBI doubled during the pandemic: 51.7 cases/10,000 ED visits vs 24.0 cases/10 000 visits in the pre-pandemic group (P = 0.0002). The overall number of cases increased significantly during the pandemic period from an average 15.5 cases per month to 20.2. Almost one-fourth of the cohort was hospitalized at similar rates during both observation periods. Conclusions: The ratio of FBI cases increased significantly during the pandemic in comparison with the two previous years. The high hospitalization rates, although stable during the pandemic, underline the significant morbidity associated with paediatric FBI.