Object-related Choking Deaths Decline Among Kids

Deaths from choking on objects among kids and teens declined from 1968 to 2017 in this analysis that spans 50 years when efforts to prevent these deaths included a federal law, other regulations, choking hazard warning labels, and public awareness campaigns. The findings of the study are published in the journal JAMA. The study deaths in children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years caused by object-related aspiration in the National Vital Statistics System. Object-related aspiration deaths were identified using codes from the eighth through tenth revisions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-8 and ICD-9: E912; ICD-10: W80).

Deaths caused by food-related aspiration were excluded because these codes are prone to errors. We examined deaths beginning in 1968 (when rigorously verified data started to be collected) through 2017, the most recent year of data available.

We calculated age-standardized rates based on US Census data. Trends in object-related aspiration mortality for all children and adolescents and for those younger than three years or aged three years or older were calculated using version 4.7.0 of the Joinpoint Regression Analysis software (National Cancer Institute). A 2-sided P < .05 was considered significant. The Wayne State University institutional review board waived the need for informed consent because data were deidentified.

Researchers report 20,629 object-related choking deaths in children and teens (to age 17) from 1968 to 2017 based on data from the National Vital Statistics System.

Deaths declined from 1.02 per 100,000 children (719 deaths) in 1968 to 0.25 per 100,000 children (184 deaths) in 2017. Although a number of laws, regulations, and guidelines were adopted during that time, researchers cannot determine their effect on the decline in deaths or if other factors were involved.

Source-Eurekalert