Awareness of the first aid management of foreign body aspiration among students: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Pediatric foreign body aspiration (FBA) is a life-threatening condition responsible for many deaths every year, especially among children younger than 2 years.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge among students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Subjects And Methods: This observational, cross-sectional study was conducted between December and January 2018 at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia via a paper-based questionnaire survey of male and female high school and middle school students. The Chi-square test was used to compare frequencies, and the independent -test was used to compare means.

Results: A total of 671 students participated in this survey. The second item, "It is possible for a child to choke on a small toy" had the highest rate of correct responses among both males and females (93.2% vs. 94%, respectively). The eighth item "Sudden cough is a sign of choking among children" had the lowest rate of correct responses among males (40.8%) and females (33%). Most female participants (74.2%) knew that batteries are the most dangerous items a child can swallow, which requires immediate medical attention (item 14), while only 56.2% of male participants knew that ( < 0.001). The only significant predictor on linear regression analysis was "Having treated anyone with FBA" (coefficient = -0.24, = 0.03).

Conclusions: There is inadequate knowledge regarding FBA among middle and high school students, as is the case among mothers. Moreover, only a small percentage of participants had any first aid training.