Pediatric Otolaryngological Emergency: An Experience from a Tertiary Care Teaching Institution at Kolkata, India
Sirshak Dutta1, Dibakar Haldar2, Neeraj Aggarwal1
11Department of ENT, Medical College, Kolkata, India.
Insights
Pediatric otolaryngological emergencies, primarily ear and nose issues like foreign bodies, are common. Most cases, including foreign body insertions, were managed conservatively, suggesting potential for decentralized care.
Area of Science:
- Otolaryngology
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Background:
- Otolaryngological (ENT) conditions represent a significant portion of pediatric emergency medical issues.
- Understanding the epidemiology and management of these emergencies in children is crucial for healthcare planning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze patient profiles, incidence, presentation, and management of pediatric otolaryngological emergencies.
- To identify common ENT emergencies in children presenting to a tertiary care hospital.
Main Methods:
- A descriptive, cross-sectional study utilizing retrospective data collection.
- Analysis of patient records from the ENT emergency department of a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata.
- Data analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Main Results:
- Pediatric patients accounted for 39.0% of ENT emergency attendances.
- Ear problems (50%) and nose-related complaints (approx. 33%) were most frequent, with earache, nasal foreign bodies, and aural foreign bodies being major presentations.
- Foreign body insertion was more common in younger children, and 96.25% of patients received conservative management.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric otolaryngological emergencies are frequent, with foreign bodies and inflammatory conditions being key issues.
- The high rate of conservative management suggests that many of these emergencies could potentially be handled at lower-level healthcare facilities, reducing tertiary care burden.
Abstract:
Otolaryngological conditions constitute a major share of emergency medical problem among children. The present study was conducted to assess the patient profiles, incidences morbidities, mode of presentation and managements of different otolaryngological emergencies among pediatric patients presented in a tertiary care hospital. Descriptive cross-sectional study by analysing retrospectively collected information pertaining to the patients attended ENT emergency service department of a tertiary care hospital, Kolkata. Data were collected using predesigned proforma and were analysed with the help of SPSS version 20. About 39.0% of total ENT emergency attendance was contributed by pediatric age group. The male female ratio was 1:1.33 with average age of 58.95 ± 34.42 (mean ± SD) months. Half of the attendees had ear problem and almost one-third reported complaints related to nose. The major complaints at the time of presentation were earache (32.3%), nasal foreign body (24.0%) and aural foreign body (13.3%) closely followed by aero-digestive tract foreign body (12.0%). Inflammatory conditions affected the ears more, foreign bodies found most commonly in nose and miscellaneous condition such as impacted wax was found to be related to ear in significantly higher proportion. Conservative management was provided to 96.25% of patients. Foreign body insertion was found to be associated with lower age group. Most of the emergencies were managed conservatively which might be done at subdivision or district level to reduce the undesirable burden on the tertiary care medical colleges.
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