Question

1. Are the cognitive skills of a child affected by their nutrition?
2. What is the primary cause of fatal ingestions in children younger than 5 years of age? Discuss button battery ingestion.

Please with reference. Thanks

Answer 1

1. Are the cognitive skills of a child affected by their nutrition?

Ans: YES. Cognitive development is influenced by nutrition. Under nutrition causes children to have less energy & less interest for learning, which negatively influence cognitive development & academic performance. There is connection between improved nutrition & brain function. Nutrients provide building blocks that play a critical role in cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, neurotransmitter & hormone metabolism & are important constituents of enzyme systems in brain (Bhatnagar & Taneja, 2001; Lozoff & Georgieff, 2006; Zeisel, 2009)

2. Primary cause of fatal ingestion in under five children.

• Curiosity of children that makes them explore the environment with all their senses including taste.
• younger children are most susceptible to poison because of their smsllsm size & less well-developed physiology, particularly as the toxicity of most substances relates to dose/Kg of body weight. (www.who.int)
• Low socioeconomic backgrounds
• Lack of supervision by parents
• Unintentional drug overdose.

3. BUTTON BATTERY INGESTION

Ingestion of batteries has been recognised as a potential health hazard for children.

button batteries also known as disc batteries are tiny, round batteries commonly present in numerous electronic gadgets , because of their easy accessibility to children, they pose a serious menace of accidental ingestion or inhalation.

Child will present as other foreign bodies ingestion , such as;

• cough & gagging
• Drooling & Dysphagia
• Increased work of breathing & Stridor
• wheeze
• Evolution of tissue damage
• Vomiting
• Fever
• Irritability
• Listless

​​​​​​​Tissue damage from button battery is due to ALKALINE CAUSTIC EXPOSURE. alkaline caustics lead to LIQUEFACTION NECROSIS, which can cause destruction of local structures:

• perforations
• Fistulas
• Vocal cord damage & paralysis
• Structures
• Massive hemorrhage
• ​​​​​​​death