Laryngeal choking on food and acute ethanol intoxication in adults--An autopsy study

Abstract

The retrospective autopsy study included 98 adults who died because of laryngeal choking on a bolus of food: 67 men and 31 women (χ(2)=6.843, p<0.01), average age 58.61±15.87 years (range 26-92 years). Most of the subjects had poor dentition (χ(2) =34.327, p<0.01). Twenty individuals died in medical institutions, and 78 were nonhospitalized individuals. More than a third of the nonhospitalized individuals were under the influence of ethanol at the moment of death: average blood concentration 8.3g/dL (SD=11.0), ranged from 5.0 to 36.0. Nonhospitalized persons were at the moment of event more often under influence of ethanol than the subjects in control group (χ(2)= 38.874, p<0.01), and at the same time significantly more intoxicated (z=-7.126, p<0.01). Our study pointed out that poor dentition and impairment of the swallowing reflex, as a consequence of ethanol intoxication in individuals without mental disorders, were the most important risk factors for bolus death.