This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

JEROME V. MURPHY, MD; IAN A. WILKINSON, MB, BS, FRACP

Am J Dis Child. 1981;135(2):180-181.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Breath holding is not uncommon in infancy following a startle, injury, or punishment. This reaction generally does not persist beyond the age of 6 years, and the outlook for normal development is excellent.¹

In 1951, Howard et al² described voluntary breath holding in older children and adults, a practice we still find present in school-aged children.² In this maneuver, a period of hyperventilation is followed by a Valsalva maneuver (forced expiration against a closed glottis) and the victim responds with brief unconsciousness. Howard et al warn against the risk of "injury during falling" and report the production of a convulsion in one volunteer during this procedure.

Recently, we observed a 12-year-old boy who died following a modified breath-holding spell. We report the case to document the risk involved, as well as to learn if similar incidents have been recorded by others. Report of a Case.—A 12-year-old . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Department of Neurology Medical College of Wisconsin PO Box 1997 Milwaukee, WI 53201 NEAL H. POLLACK, DO 2300 N. Mayfair Rd Wauwatosa, WI 53226

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?