Choking Game Death Toll 82
CDC Reports on Results of Research of Dangerous Teen Activity
Outlines the results of CDC research related to the choking game and lists warning signs that a teen is participating in the game.
Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put out the results of the fatalities that have come from teens playing what has come to be known as the choking game. The “game” is often played in groups, with as many as 20 percent of all teenagers having participated in it which has resulted in 82 deaths. In the game, the player temporarily cuts off his blood flow to the head by using leashes, bungee cords, or other strangling devices. This is done until right before the teen passes out. The result of this action kills millions of brain cells and creates a high effect without the use of expensive and illegal drugs.
Those who have died from the game often played alone with no one around to free the airway. Research of the fatalities caused by the game began when the CDC received a letter from Dr. Patricia Russell, a physician in Tacoma, Washington whose 13-year-old son accidentally died by hanging himself in his bedroom closet while playing the choking game in 2005. The results are now being published in a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report. The report lists 82 deaths in children between the ages of 6 and 19 living in 31 states from 1995 to 2007. Almost 90 percent of them were boys with an average age of 13. The researchers left out deaths which were unclear as to whether they were the result of the game or suicide.
This, along with the method of research that was undertaken, has been stated to be less precise than the researchers would like. This is because many death certificates will not specify the choking game as the cause of death in a child. Instead, they had to rely on media reports from a detailed but incomplete news database. In fact, one medical examiner, Dr. Tom Andrew, projects that about 100 children die each year from the choking game. In saying this, some of the 5,100 hanging and strangling suicides that were reported between 1995 and 2007 may actually have been accidental deaths from the result of the choking game. From the numbers they do have, an especially alarming statistic that came from the research was that most of the deaths occurred in the year 2006, accounting for 35 of the fatalities followed by nine that occurred last year.
One reason for the sudden drop in deaths in 2007 may be due to parental awareness. In recent years, parents have been urged to look for signs that their child is playing the choking game in order to prevent more deaths from occurring. Such warning signs include bloodshot eyes, marks on the neck, severe headaches, disorientation after being alone, changes in behavior, sudden thuds coming from the child’s bedroom, and strangulation devices tied to bedroom furniture or knotted on the floor. The game is especially intriguing to smart, athletic teens who want to know the feeling of being high without doing drugs. They also are schooled on the many names that the game has been given including Blackout, Fainting Game, Space Monkey, Dream Game, Flat liner, California Choke, Space Cowboy, Airplaning, and Purple Dragon.
