Assessment of Awareness Level Among Parents Regarding Foreign Body Ingestion in Children in Arar, Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to assess the awareness level of parents about the substances which could be ingested by the children. A survey has been conducted among the willing participants from Arar -Saudi Arabia. The first part of the questionnaire contains questions about age, gender, number of children, and level of education. The second part contains statements focusing on parental knowledge regarding foreign body ingestion in children. The third part assesses the parental practices toward foreign body ingestion. Twenty-six percent of the parents narrated that they encountered an incident in which their children ingested foreign bodies. A significant number (94%) of the parents know the most susceptible age group of children which may ingest foreign bodies. Most of the parents (89%) think that peanuts should not be given to children aged less than 4 years. Sixty-six percent of parents think that they should try to search and take out the foreign body from the mouth of a child with their hand even if the substance is invisible to them. The awareness level among the parents was deficient regarding substances such as safety pins, magnets, screws, needles, keys, and pieces of marble that can be ingested by the children.Data analysis on the current study showed that a significant number the parents had encountered an incident of foreign body ingestion in their children. Knowledge was deficient among the parents about some common substances was found that could be ingested by children.