Risk Factors Associated with Hypoxemia During Foreign Body Removal from Airways in Childhood

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between variables associated with hypoxemia in children who underwent rigid bronchoscopy for foreign body removal.

Methods: From April 1993 to April 2011, four hundred and one children who inhaled foreign bodies were included. Apart from descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors related to hypoxemia.

Results: Among the patients aged up to one year, the risk of hypoxemia was five and a half times higher than for patients aged 1 or older (OR=5.6), whereas the risk of patients who underwent foreign body removal using seed type tweezers having hypoxemia was approximately 4 times higher than that of patients who underwent this procedure with other types of tweezers (OR=3.7). Furthermore, for each additional minute in the duration of the procedure, the risk of hypoxemia reached 4% (OR=1.04).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that children younger than 1 year who require RB seem to be vulnerable to a higher risk of hypoxemia, especially in longer procedures in which seed tweezers are used.