Association between the self-insertion of nasal and aural foreign bodies and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is higher in children presenting with nasal and aural foreign bodies than in the control group.

METHODS: The present study was conducted between April 2012 and December 2012 and included 60 pediatric patients presenting with self-inserted nasal and aural foreign bodies and 50 healthy controls aged between 3 and 9 years. The Conner Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) and Turgay's DSM-IV based ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders screening scale (T-DSM-IV-Scale) were used to investigate ADHD.

RESULTS: The difference between the patient group and the control group was significant with respect to the abnormal scores obtained from all the subscales (p < 0.05). In children between 5 and 9 years of age, the abnormal scores were significantly higher in the patients than the controls for all the subscales (p < 0.05). However, in children between 3 and 4 years of age, there were no significant differences between the patients and the controls for the scores obtained from all the subscales (p > 0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between the patients with a previous history of self-inserted foreign bodies and those without any history of foreign body insertion (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study demonstrated a possible association between the self-insertion of nasal and aural foreign bodies and ADHD. Clinicians should be aware of the possible presence of ADHD in children, especially in those patients between 5 and 9 years of age who present with self-inserted nasal and aural foreign bodies.