Choking Game Research Articles

Unintentional Strangulation Deaths From the “Choking Game” Among Youths Aged 6-19 Years—United States, 1995-2007

The "choking game" is defined as self-strangulation or strangulation by another person with the hands or a noose to achieve a brief euphoric state caused by cerebral hypoxia. Participants in this activity typically are youths. Serious neurologic injury or death can result if strangulation is prolonged. In recent years, news media reports have described numerous deaths among youths attributed to the choking game. Because no traditional public health dataset collects mortality data on this practice, CDC used news media reports to estimate the incidence of deaths from the choking game. This report describes the results of that analysis, which identified 82 probable choking-game deaths among youths aged 6-19 years, during 1995-2007. Seventy-one (86.6%) of the decedents were male, and the mean age was 13.3 years. Parents, educators, and health-care providers should become familiar with warning signs that youths are playing the choking game.

CDC Warns of Deaths From the Choking Game

CDC Warns of Deaths From the Choking Game

“The choking game”: Self-induced hypoxia presenting as recurrent seizurelike events

Risk-taking behavior resulting in accidental injury is common in adolescence. Self-induced hypoxia as a means of self-stimulation, sometimes referred to as “the choking game,” has recently become more widely recognized, particularly with a series of well-publicized deaths in teenagers and with wider visibility on national news and Internet sites. We report a case of self-induced hypoxia via carotid compression and breath holding that presented as recurrent confusional episodes and seizurelike events. Video/EEG monitoring was a useful tool in elucidating the neurological effects of the “game,” which may result in prolonged neurological injury or life-threatening outcome.

Unintentional strangulation deaths from the "Choking Game" among youths aged 6-19 years – United States, 1995—2007

The "choking game" is defined as self-strangulation or strangulation by another person with the hands or a noose to achieve a brief euphoric state caused by cerebral hypoxia. Participants in this activity typically are youths (Andrew & Fallon, 2007). Serious neurologic injury or death can result from engaging in this activity. Recent news media reports have described numerous deaths among youths attributed to the choking game. Because no traditional public health dataset collects data on this practice, CDC used news media reports to estimate the incidence of deaths from the choking game. This report describes the results of that analysis, which identified 82 probable choking-game deaths among youths aged 6-19 years during 1995-2007. Seventy-one (86.6%) of the decedents were male, and the mean age was 13.3 years. Parents, educators, and health-care providers should become familiar with warning signs that youths are playing the choking game (Urkin & Merrick, 2006). Impact of industry: By learning about the risk factors for and warning signs of the choking game, parents, educators, and health-care providers may be able to identify youth at risk for playing the game and prevent future deaths.

Youth Suicides on Rise—Question Is Why?

Youth Suicides on Rise—Question Is Why?

Valsalva Retinopathy Associated with the Choking Game

A 41-year-old man with high myopia presented with a central scotoma in the left eye. Initial visual acuity in the left eye was count fingers. Color fundus photos, fluorescein/indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography of the macula were performed showing intraretinal and subretinal hemorrhage over the macula. The patient admitted to developing acute vision loss after holding his breath and blowing against a closed glottis to obtain a euphoric sensation. It is extremely important to recognize this possible cause of Valsalva retinopathy due to the potentially life-threatening outcome of this game.

The Choking Game

The Choking Game

EDITORIAL: The choking game or suffocation roulette in adolescence

EDITORIAL: The choking game or suffocation roulette in adolescence

Self strangulation by hanging from cloth towel dispensers in Canadian schools

Objective—To investigate a local “epidemic” of incidents of strangulation by hanging from continuous cloth towels in dispensers. Method—The coroner's office in all provinces and territories were contacted. Five cases of...

Relationships between Cloninger's, Zuckerman's, and Eysenck's dimensions of personality

The role of personality traits in self-asphyxial behaviors remains largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to explore temperament and character profiles of youth reporting participation in the choking game using Cloninger's biopsychosocial model of personality.Data were collected among French middle-school students (N=1771) aged 9–16 years (mean age=13.0, SD=1.3) and randomly selected from 13 public establishments located in different regions of France. Logistic regression models were run to identify Cloninger's temperamental and character dimensions associated with engagement in the choking game.Descriptive analysis revealed that participants showed high scores of novelty-seeking (Cohen's d=0.293, p<0.001) and low levels of cooperativeness (Cohen's d=0.182, p<0.01), persistence (Cohen's d=0.182, p<0.05), and reward dependence (Cohen's d=0.241, p<0.01). However, multivariate modeling indicated that only the novelty-seeking dimension tended to slightly differentiate participants from non-participants within the global sample (OR=1.03, 95% CI: 1–1.06). When we compared girls and boys, we found a slight trend in association only in boys (OR=1.04, 95% CI: 1–1.08).Our study, which contributes to the growing literature on the psychological correlates of choking activities and is the first to investigate the potential predictive role of personality traits in this risky behavior, suggests to some extent that (a) the choking game could possibly be influenced by some temperamental characteristics, and that (b) it might not have the same function according to the gender considered.