Toys in the upper aerodigestive tract: new evidence on their risk as emerging from the Susy Safe Study

Abstract

Foreign body (FB) inhalation, aspiration or ingestion are relatively common events in children. Despite many efforts made in several countries to achieve acceptable safety levels for consumer products devoted to children, small toys or toy parts are still frequently mentioned among risky foreign bodies. The aim of the present study is to characterize the risk of complications and prolonged hospitalization due to toys inhalation, aspiration or ingestion according to age and gender of patients, FB characteristics, circumstances of the accident, as emerging from the Susy Safe Registry. The Susy Safe Registry started in the 2005 to collect data to serve as a basis for a knowledge-based consumer protection activity. It is actually one of the wider databases collecting foreign body injuries in the upper aero-digestive tract in pediatric patients. It is distinguished by a deep characterization of objects which caused the injuries and a multi-step quality control procedure which assures its reliability. Preventive strategies imposing a regulation of industrial production, even if fundamental, are not sufficient and need to be integrated along with other intervention addressed to make aware caregivers toward a proper surveillance of children.