Button Batteries and Socioeconomic Risk

Button batteries, or coin cells as they are also known, are used commonly in small electronics, like watches, calculators, and of course, hearing aids. Recently, a group of researchers conducted a study to examine the demographics and certain social determinants of health that may relate to battery button ingestion in the pediatric population (Eyring et al., 2025).

A retrospective chart review of over 800 pediatric cases of esophageal foreign bodies was included, each of whom had a foreign object surgically removed. The mean age of the patient was four years. Fifty, or 6.1 percent of these cases, were battery ingestion. Exclusion criteria included non-accidental ingestion, those older than 18, and cases with missing socioeconomic data.

Results suggested that age was comparable between cases of button battery ingestion and non-button battery ingestion. Button battery ingestion patients were predominantly male (52.5 percent). The majority (63 percent) had commercial insurance, while only 31 percent received Medicaid.

The authors concluded that there is a growing prevalence of electronic devices using button batteries, and there is a critical need for professionals to educate and warn patients and parents of the dangers of ingesting button batteries. In addition, they note that there is not a strong correlation between socioeconomic status (SES) in their study, and in fact, their data skews the opposite direction than previously reported in smaller samples (higher SES ingested more than lower SES).

Reference

Eyring, J. B., Hemeyer, B. M., Walker, S., Allen, W. P., Liang, S., et al. (2025). Button battery ingestion: exploring socioeconomic risk factors. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 10.1002/ohn.1206.