Choking
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Follow the links below to find trusted information about choking.
Last reviewed: May 2018
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Choking
Read more on Queensland Health website
Choking, suffocating and children - NT.GOV.AU
Find out what you can do to lower the chance of your child choking or suffocating at home.
Read more on NT Health website
Choking prevention & risks: children | Raising Children Network
This guide explains how to protect your child from choking and avoid choking risks around your home. It covers airway blockages and children at higher risk.
Read more on Raising Children Network website
Kids' Health - Topics - Choking on food
Have you ever heard someone coughing while they were eating or drinking then afterwards saying "Oh that went down the wrong way?"
Read more on Women's and Children's Health Network website
First aid for a choking infant under 1
How to manage choking in an infant under 1.
Read more on WA Health website
First aid for a choking adult or child over 1
How to manage choking in an adult or a child over 1 year old.
Read more on WA Health website
Choking first aid for kids: in pictures | Raising Children Network
This essential illustrated guide shows what to do if a baby or child is choking, with information on clearing an airway blockage. Download or print out.
Read more on Raising Children Network website
Stop choking in babies under 12 months | Raising Children Network
Use this picture guide for Aboriginal parents to find out how to stop choking in a baby under 12 months.
Read more on Raising Children Network website
Parenting and Child Health - Health Topics - Choking on food and other objects
Choking is a risk for babies and young children. It is important to take care that your home (and any other place where your young child will be) does not have small things around that they can put in their mouth. Food can also be a choking hazard. It is also a good idea to do a first aid course so you will feel confident to cope with any accident that could happen to your child.
Read more on Women's and Children's Health Network website
Keeping baby safe
Information on baby safety and preventing accidents including falls, burns, choking, strangulation, drowning, poisoning, plus links to trusted resources.
Read more on Pregnancy, Birth & Baby website
Top results
Alternative materials injected into the vocal fold (cord) for unilateral vocal fold paralysis | Cochrane
Paralysis of one of the vocal folds (vocal cords) can have a significant impact upon a patient's quality of life. The affected patient may suffer with poor voice, breathlessness and problems with their swallowing. The treatment options include voice therapy, injection to the vocal cord or open surgery. The injection of a material into the affected vocal fold aims to improve voice, breathlessness and prevent episodes of aspiration (choking). There are a wide variety of injectable materials available and this review aimed to assess their effectiveness.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Botulinum toxin for swallowing disorders | Cochrane
Many people have problems swallowing because of an impairment of the upper oesophageal sphincter (UOS), a high pressure zone within the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Many people with neurological conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis can have UOS impairment. This results in difficulty swallowing food and liquids, resulting in choking and food entering into the lungs (aspiration). This has serious consequences for the patient and can cause dehydration, malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia. The person's quality of life can be affected as they are unable to have food or liquids safely by mouth. Tube feeding and hospitalisation is often required.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Topical steroids for nasal airway obstruction in children with moderately to severely enlarged adenoids | Cochrane
Topical steroids for nasal airway obstruction in children with moderately to severely enlarged adenoids
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Inhaled beta2-agonists for non-specific chronic cough in children | Cochrane
The existence of cough variant asthma (cough as the only respiratory symptom without any evidence of airway obstruction) is controversial. This review raises the appropriateness of the common practice of using inhaled 2 agonists in the treatment of children with cough without any other evidence of airway obstruction. The review found that there is nothing at present to suggest that treatment with 2 agonists will be beneficial in treating nonspecific isolated cough in children.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Pain relief for neonatal circumcision | Cochrane
Circumcision is a painful procedure frequently performed on newborn baby boys without using pain relief. Available treatments include dorsal penile nerve block (DPNB), which involves injecting anesthetic at the base of the penis. Ring block is another form of penile block. Locally applied anesthetic creams include EMLA, a water-based cream including lidocaine and prilocaine. Based on 35 clinical trials involving 1,997 newborns, it can be concluded that DPNB and EMLA do not eliminate circumcision pain, but are both more effective than placebo or no treatment in diminishing it. Compared head to head, DPNB is substantially more effective than EMLA cream. Ring block and lidocaine creams other than EMLA also reduced pain but did not eliminate it. Trials of oral acetaminophen, sugar solutions, pacifiers, music, and other environmental modifications to reduce circumcision pain did not prove them effective. DPNB can cause minor bruising, bleeding, or swelling at the injection site. EMLA and other lidocaine creams can cause skin color changes or local skin irritation. There is a rare risk with lidocaine creams of causing methaemoglobinaemia (blue-baby syndrome, where the baby's blood lacks sufficient oxygen). However, two trials of EMLA for circumcision pain relief measured methaemoglobin levels and found them normal. The circumcision procedure itself, especially without pain relief, can cause short term effects such as choking, gagging, and vomiting. Long term effects of circumcision without pain relief are not well understood. Strict comparability between trials was rare. Trials used a variety of indicators to measure baby's pain. Crying time, facial expression, and sweating palms can indicate infant pain, as can increased heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Levels of chemical indicators that can be part of a pain or stress response and are present in the blood or saliva are another gauge of pain levels. Also, procedures were not generally performed in just the same way in different trials. Type of clamp used (8sing a Mogen clamp can shorten the duration of the procedure), length of wait time after injection or application of anesthetic and procedure techniques varied.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Honey and lozenges for children with non-specific cough | Cochrane
Symptomatic relief is often sought for children with chronic non-specific cough (which is defined as a dry, non-productive cough with no known cause lasting longer than four consecutive weeks). This review aimed to assess the efficacy of treating children with such coughs using honey or lozenges, as these options are inexpensive. No randomised controlled trials were found to be applicable to this review, primarily due to the participants in the studies not fulfilling the inclusion criteria. However, studies on the efficacy of these treatments in treating acute cough in children showed that honey has the potential to be beneficial in children over a year old. Further research evaluating the efficacy of honey and lozenges in treating chronic non-specific coughs in children is needed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Interventions for swallowing difficulty in long-term, progressive muscle disease | Cochrane
What is the effect of interventions for dysphagia in people with long-term, progressive muscle disease?
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Struggling to Find an Off Switch? The Constant Cycle of Caring - Ausmed
There are as many answers to that question as there are nurses, I imagine
Read more on Ausmed Education website
Postural drainage in infants and young children with cystic fibrosis | Cochrane
We reviewed the evidence about how different postural drainage positions affect gastroesophageal reflux in infants and young children up to six years old with cystic fibrosis. We compared standard postural drainage (greater (30 to 45 head-down tilt) and lesser (15 to 20 head-down tilt)) with modified postural drainage (greater (30 head-up tilt) or lesser (15 to 20 head-up tilt)).
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Sucrose for analgesia (pain relief) in newborn infants undergoing painful procedures | Cochrane
Cochrane reviewers investigated how well sucrose (table sugar) works as a reliever of pain in newborn babies who are having painful procedures (e.g. an injection, or heel lance, or insertion of a needle to obtain a blood sample (venipuncture), or eye examinations). The babies' pain responses (e.g. crying, grimacing) were assessed by scoring systems for pain used by health care professionals to measure the pain that babies are experiencing. In addition, the reviewers wanted to investigate whether the level of pain relief is related to the dose of sucrose, or the method of delivery (e.g. as a solution squirted into the mouth, or on a pacifier (also called a soother or dummy), and whether there are any safety concerns about using sucrose to relieve pain.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
