TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1980//
TI  - Medication use and deaths attributed to asphyxia among psychiatric patients
JO  - American journal of psychiatry
A1  - Craig, T. J.
SP  - 1366
EP  - 1373
VL  - 137
IS  - 11
N2  - In a review of the charts of inpatients who died in 1969-1977 the author found 49 whose death could be attributed to asphyxia. Compared with a matched control group, 48 of the asphyxia patients represented three distinct pathologic categories: 1) older patients with a history of serious physical illness whose deaths appeared unrelated to psychotropic medication use (40%), 2) a group whose deaths were associated with seizures (31%), raising questions about subtherapeutic anticonvulsant levels in association with the use of psychotropic drugs, and 3) a group of patients who choked to death (29%). Choking has been theoretically linked to a combination of dopamine blockade plus strong anticholinergic effects leading to impairment of swallowing. The third category appears to have been virtually eliminated by the use of a drug monitoring system and the Heimlich maneuver.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-953X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -