Kids facing risk from tiny 'button' batteries
Source: Agencies |
May 16, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHILDREN face a growing risk from "button" batteries, according to a US study showing a near doubling of emergency room visits in the past two decades as the objects can cause electrical or chemical burns if swallowed.
Most of those emergency room trips are due to coin-shaped batteries that have become ubiquitous in toys, remote controls and hearing aids and represent a shiny temptation to curious toddlers, according to a study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Button" batteries carry extra risks, experts said, because they can send an electrical current through esophageal tissue, eventually even burning a hole in the trachea or the esophagus - without children showing any signs of immediate injury.
"If a child swallows a button battery, the parent might not see it happen and the child might not have symptoms initially - and the clock is ticking," said Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, one of the authors of the study.
"We've seen children in less than two hours have severe, severe injuries from button batteries getting caught in the esophagus."
There are a few ways button batteries can cause injury, he added. They can also leak acid if the casing around the battery is eroded.
Experts agreed that parents should make sure all compartments on battery cases are screwed in or taped shut and dead batteries should be thrown into the bottom of the trash where children are unlikely to find them, Slamon added.
"The real way to prevent these (emergencies) is to prevent the event from happening in the first place," Smith said. "If (parents) suspect something, they need to get to the hospital and get an X-ray done immediately."
Most of those emergency room trips are due to coin-shaped batteries that have become ubiquitous in toys, remote controls and hearing aids and represent a shiny temptation to curious toddlers, according to a study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Button" batteries carry extra risks, experts said, because they can send an electrical current through esophageal tissue, eventually even burning a hole in the trachea or the esophagus - without children showing any signs of immediate injury.
"If a child swallows a button battery, the parent might not see it happen and the child might not have symptoms initially - and the clock is ticking," said Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, one of the authors of the study.
"We've seen children in less than two hours have severe, severe injuries from button batteries getting caught in the esophagus."
There are a few ways button batteries can cause injury, he added. They can also leak acid if the casing around the battery is eroded.
Experts agreed that parents should make sure all compartments on battery cases are screwed in or taped shut and dead batteries should be thrown into the bottom of the trash where children are unlikely to find them, Slamon added.
"The real way to prevent these (emergencies) is to prevent the event from happening in the first place," Smith said. "If (parents) suspect something, they need to get to the hospital and get an X-ray done immediately."
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