Geographic Social Context of Button Battery vs Other Foreign Body Ingestions

Sunday, September 29, 2024

9:36 AM – 9:42 AM EDT

Location: MBCC, 225

Disclosure(s):

JB Eyring, BS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Quinn T. Orb, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Reema K. Padia, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Button battery (BB) ingestions are dangerous and require emergent operative removal. Mitigating the incidence of BB ingestion requires educational messaging for parents, which starts with understanding their socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental context. This study aimed to compare geographic features and social determinants of health between patients presenting with BB and non-BB ingestions.

Methods: All cases of esophagoscopy for foreign body removal by 14 pediatric otolaryngologists from 2017-2023 across four hospitals were included (CPTs 43215, 43194). Patient census tracts (2020) were matched to the AHRQ Social Determinants of Health Database. Analyses included time series analysis, geospatial mapping, descriptive statistics, and differences between BB and non-BB cases in social context (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, veteran status), economic context (e.g., income, unemployment rate), education, physical infrastructure (e.g., housing, crime, transportation), and healthcare context (e.g., health insurance).

Results: Pediatric foreign body ingestion cases (N = 442) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (β = 0.2 yearly; p < 0.001). BB ingestion was associated with younger age (3.1 vs 5.6 years; p < 0.01), areas of higher household income (p < 0.05), more education (p < 0.05), lower unemployment rates (p < 0.05), newer housing (p < 0.01), greater likelihood of having insurance (p < 0.05), less distance to the nearest pediatric ICU (p < 0.05), lower prevalence of pediatric intellectual disabilities (p < 0.05), and fewer immigrants (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Patients presenting with BB ingestion were more likely to live in more educated, employed, and resource-rich areas. These findings may indicate that button batteries, or the devices that require them—are more available to those of higher socioeconomic status. Intervention planning should consider and continue to evaluate this social context. Additional research is needed on the purchase, storage, and use of button batteries, which will allow for more targeted public health approaches.

Presenting Author(s)

JB Eyring, BS

Medical Student (MS3)
University of Utah School of Medicine
North Salt Lake, UT, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Co-Author(s)

Brandon M. Hemeyer, BS

Medical Student
University of Utah School of Medicine
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.
SW

Stephen Walker

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.
Wesley P. Allen, BS

Medical Student
University of Utah School of Medicine
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.
QO

Quinn T. Orb, MD

Assistant Professor
Primary Children's Hospital
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
JM

Jeremy D. Meier, MD

Professor
University of Utah Health - Primary Children's Hospital
Holladay, UT, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.

Senior Author(s)

Reema K. Padia, MD

Associate Professor
University of Utah
Cottonwood Heights, UT, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.