Nonfatal Choking on Food Among Children 14 Years or Younger in the United States, 2001-2009
Cited in 2 Likelier entries (2 risks, 0 decisions).
Used in 2 entries
For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.
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- Statistic
12,435 annual US pediatric ED visits for nonfatal food-related choking (2001-2009); rate 20.4 per 100,000; mean age 4.5 years; hard candy 15%, other candy 13%, meat 12%, bone 12%
“"An estimated 111,914 children 0 to 14 years of age (95% confidence interval: 71,186-152,642) were treated in US hospital emergency departments from 2001 through 2009 for nonfatal food-related choking, yielding an average of 12,435 children annually and a rate of 20.4 (95% confidence interval: 15.4-25.3) visits per 100,000 population. The mean age of children treated for nonfatal food-related choking was 4.5 years [...] Hard candy was associated with the greatest number (15.5% [95% CI: 12.8-18.2]) of choking episodes, followed by other candy (12.8% [95% CI: 10.6-15.0]), meat (12.2% [95% CI: 9.9-14.5]), and bone (12.0% [95% CI: 9.7-14.3])."”
Calculation notes
The Chapin et al. annual rate (20.4 ED visits per 100,000 children per year for nonfatal food choking) is the basis for the non-fatal regional_breakdown entry. Compounded over five years of the 0-4 window at roughly 30 per 100,000 per year (slightly higher than all-ages-0-14 because the under-5 subgroup is over-represented in the data — mean age 4.5), the cumulative ED-visit rate is roughly 1.5 per 1,000. The "1 in 20" headline used in the regional_breakdown includes broader serious events that parents manage at home (successful back blows, Heimlich, or a pediatrician call without an ED visit), which are not captured in Chapin's ED-only denominator but are well above the ED-visit rate in survey data.
Independence note: Chapin et al. uses the CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) All Injury Program — a stratified sample of US hospital EDs. Shares upstream with Sideris 2021 (same NEISS + NCHS mortality files) and partially overlaps with the MMWR surveillance data; treat the three as different slices of a single US pediatric-injury surveillance pipeline.
Source date: 2013-08-01 · Accessed: 2026-04-12
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- Statistic
12,435 annual US pediatric ED visits for nonfatal food-related choking (2001-2009); rate 20.4 per 100,000; children ≤1 year account for 37.8% of cases
“"An estimated 111,914 (95% confidence interval: 83,975-139,854) children ages 0 to 14 years were treated in US hospital emergency departments from 2001 through 2009 for nonfatal food-related choking, yielding an average of 12,435 children annually and a rate of 20.4 (95% confidence interval: 15.4-25.3) visits per 100,000 population."”
Calculation notes
Provides the nonfatal event denominator. At 12,435 ED visits per year against roughly 50-80 fatal events, the case-fatality ratio for food choking events serious enough to reach an ED is roughly 1 in 150-250. Most events that reach the ED were resolved by a bystander (caregiver back blows, Heimlich) before arrival — the ED visit is precautionary. This supports the claim that trained caregiver intervention is the variable separating fatal from nonfatal outcomes.
Source date: 2013-08-01 · Accessed: 2026-04-20
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