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asphyxia

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Also known as choking to death on one's own vomit, suffocation, asphyxiation

Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are many circumstances that can induce asphyxia, all of which are characterized by the inability of a person to acquire sufficient oxygen through breathing for an extended period of time. Asphyxia can cause coma or death. In 2015, about 9.8 million cases of unintentional suffocation occurred which resulted in 35,600 deaths. The word asphyxia is from Ancient Gree

AI overview

Asphyxia is a life-threatening condition in which the body doesn't get enough oxygen due to abnormal breathing, and it can lead to coma or death if the oxygen deprivation continues long enough. It can result from many different circumstances that prevent a person from breathing adequately, and in 2015 alone, unintentional suffocation cases caused over 35,000 deaths worldwide.

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Key facts

Medical condition (new).name
Asphyxia
Medical condition (new).synonyms
Asphyxiation
Medical condition (new).image
Gray513.png
Medical condition (new).caption
The neck contains several vulnerable targets for compression, including the carotid arteries and the trachea.
Medical condition (new).field
Critical care medicine
Medical condition (new).frequency
9.8 million unintentional worldwide (2015)
Medical condition (new).deaths
35,600 worldwide (2015)
Medical condition (new).complications
Coma, muteness

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Research

23,598 papers

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Wikidata facts

Image
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Commons category
Asphyxia
NCI Thesaurus ID
C50465
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~11 min read

Article

10 sections
Contents
  • Causes
  • Smothering
  • Compressive asphyxia
  • Perinatal asphyxia
  • Mechanical asphyxia
  • First aid
  • First aid for choking on food
  • See also
  • Further reading
  • External links

Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are many circumstances that can induce asphyxia, all of which are characterized by the inability of a person to acquire sufficient oxygen through breathing for an extended period of time. Asphyxia can cause coma or death. In 2015, about 9.8 million cases of unintentional suffocation occurred which resulted in 35,600 deaths. The word asphyxia is from Ancient Greek "without" and , "squeeze" (throb of heart).

==Causes== Situations that can cause asphyxia include but are not limited to: airway obstruction (such as from asthma, laryngospasm, or simple blockage from the presence of foreign materials); from being in environments where oxygen is not readily accessible: such as underwater, in a low oxygen atmosphere, or in a vacuum; environments where sufficiently oxygenated air is present, but cannot be adequately breathed because of air contamination such as excessive smoke.

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