Foreign body asphyxia -: A preventable cause of death in the elderly

Backround: To assess the prevalence of food/foreign body asphyxia in the elderly Viennese population in order to reduce the incidence of these fatal events. Methods: This is an autopsy-based, retrospective study in Vienna, Austria. Participants included all nonhospitalized (n = 200) cases of choking, in 1084 to 2001. from a total 42.745 consecutive autopsies performed at the Institute of Forensic Medicine. In addition. data from hospitalized adult cases of fatal choking, (n = 73) in 1984 to 2001. from the mortality registrar of Vienna, were included. Results: The nonhospitalized choking victims were analyzed according to age (18 to 64 vs greater than or equal to65 years), sex, circumstances of death, and predisposing factors. Hospitalized case,; were analyzed according to age, sex, and whether an autopsy was already performed by pathologists at the institution where they died. In the study period, 273 adults died of food/foreign body asphyxia, 73% of them out of the hospital And 27% in hospitals. Food/foreign body asphyxia in the elderly was characterized by a Significantly higher asphyxiation of soft/slick foods (p<0.007) with agomphiasis (p<0.002), occuring most frequently during lunch (49%), and in 2.5% during feeding of neurologically impaired. In contrast, younger individuals choked significantly more often on large pieces of foreign material (p<0.002) and showed a significantly higher rate of blood alcohol concentration (P<0.001). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that semisolid foods are the cause of a large number of asphyxiations, especially; among the elderly. Knowledge of the fact that Semisolid Foods are a high-risk factor in elderly individuals should be distributed in public and private healthcare systems, and awareness could be a first step in reducing the incidence of food/foreign body asphyxia. (C) 2005 American journal of Preventive Medicine.