title: Pediatric coin ingestion: a home-based survey.
abstract: To improve understanding of the natural history of pediatric coin ingestions, an anonymous, home-based mail survey of parents followed by a five-physician private pediatric practice in suburban Maryland was conducted. Of 2,263 families surveyed, 798 (35.3%) responded, representing 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-two (85%) coin ingestions were managed at home, usually without calling a physician or poison control center. Only 9 (15%) children were examined by a physician. No child (95% confidence interval: 0% to 4.9%) underwent a removal procedure or had an adverse outcome. Most coin ingestions were found to have been managed at home, often without calling a physician or poison control center. Hospital- or poison control center-based studies underestimate coin ingestion incidence and overestimate the frequency of complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, NY, USA.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Conners
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Weiner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006701:Home Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D013270:Stomach