Prevention of 'Tongue Swallowing' in Resuscitation of Athletes Associated With Poor Prognosis
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, July 30, 2025 -- Attempts to prevent "tongue swallowing" are common during bystander resuscitation of athletes with cardiac arrest and are associated with poor prognosis, according to a study published online July 30 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
Dana Viskin, M.D., from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel, and colleagues searched the internet for videos showing athletes undergoing resuscitation maneuvers after collapsing during competition from 1990 to 2024, focusing on the first response. Forty-five cases of athletes collapsing during sporting events that were caught on video or published and publicly available were assessed.
The researchers found that an inappropriate response, including attempts to prevent tongue swallowing, preceded proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in 84 percent of cases when the first action was visible. Following cardiac arrest events, death or severe anoxic brain damage was more likely when the victims were subjected to tongue-swallowing prevention maneuvers versus receiving CPR as the first response (18 of 27 [67 percent] versus zero of three). Twenty-eight cases were covered in 84 news articles; 40 of these mentioned the term "tongue swallowing," which was generally praised.
"Our study highlights the dangerous and persistent misconception of 'tongue swallowing prevention,' which can delay the initiation of life-saving chest compressions," Viskin said in a statement. "These delays may cost lives, and yet the media often praise such misguided actions as heroic. We urgently need to reeducate the public and the media and reframe the narrative around CPR, especially in sports."
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted July 2025
Read this next
Helping Others Linked to Higher Level of Cognitive Function
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- Helping others, both via formal volunteering and informal helping, is associated with higher levels of cognitive function and slower cognitive decline...
TAR-200 Monotherapy Promising for BCG-Unresponsive Bladder Cancer
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- For patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), an intravesical...
Work-Related Income Drops for Parents of Children Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- Work-related income decreases sharply for mothers and fathers of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, with similar effects across sociodemographic...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.