Open AccessElderly and Children Are Not The Only Victims of Foreign Body Airway Obstruction in Italy (A National Media-Based Survey)
Author(s) -
Дж. Ландони,
Т. Сквиццато,
А. Г. Яворовский,
Alberto Zangrillo,
Simona Silvetti
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
obŝaâ reanimatologiâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.175
H-Index - 6
eISSN - 2411-7110
pISSN - 1813-9779
DOI - 10.15360/1813-9779-2021-1-4-15
Subject(s) - choking , airway obstruction , medicine , foreign body , airway , pediatrics , sudden infant death syndrome , foreign body aspiration , injury prevention , foreign bodies , demography , poison control , medical emergency , surgery , sociology , anatomy
Choking is a relevant public health problem. Data in medical literature are scarce and fatal events are dramatically under-reported. The aim of this manuscript is to give a real estimation of this problem and to raise awareness about this topic. Materials and methods . All deaths caused by choking reported by Italian Mass Media over a two years period were collected. Suspected sudden infant death syndrome was an exclusion criteria. Results . 76 deaths due to foreign body airway obstruction were identified, 51% during 2018 and 49% in 2019, without identifiable time clusters. Choking affected every age, including pre-scholar children (25%), children 6 to 18 years old (3%), adults (38%), and elderly patients (34%). Witnessed cases were 61 (80%) but in almost half 26 cases (42%) the fatal event occurred before or without first aid maneuvers being performed. Conclusion . On the Italian territory, during a 2 years period, three cases per month of fatal choking due to foreign-body airway obstruction occurred, many of them in adult patients (38%). Italian people seem not to be educated to provide first aid in these settings.