Evaluation of Foreign Body Airway Obstruction Interventions: A Prospective Cohort Study of Adults and Children

September 5, 2026 updated by: Cody Dunne, University of Calgary
Foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO, choking) is a life-threatening emergency requiring time-sensitive treatment to prevent severe injury or deaths. Traditional treatments taught in first aid courses include abdominal thrusts, back blows, and chest compressions or thrusts. Currently, first aid guidelines recommend different treatments for adults, child and infants. Until recently, data on these techniques was limited to case series from the late 1900's. To further improve our knowledge of which treatment is most effective and safest for patients, this study will collect data on choking incidents in Alberta, Canada. This study will focus on adults and children over the age of 2 years.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

640

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Alberta
      • Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adult or children (aged greater than 2 years) who experienced an out-of-hospital FBAO and received a FBAO intervention in Alberta, Canada, and, subsequently, were assessed by EMS or at an emergency department

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult or children (aged greater than 2 years) who experienced an out-of-hospital FBAO in Alberta, Canada
  • Received a FBAO intervention by bystander or healthcare provider
  • Were assessed by EMS at the time of the incident, or later attended an emergency department due to the incident

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients with abnormal airway anatomy such as a tracheostomy.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Abdominal thrust
Back blows
Chest thrusts on conscious individual
CPR on unconscious individual
LifeVac airway clearance device

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Foreign body airway obstruction relief
Time Frame: Day 1
Defined as: responders determining that the patient did not require further FBAO intervention due to improvement or resolution of their respiratory distress in a conscious patient, or the ability for a responder to successfully ventilate an unconscious patient when previously they were unable to due to obstruction
Day 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Survival to acute care discharge
Time Frame: From date of enrolment until the date of acute care discharge or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 3 month
Defined as discharge from the care of Emergency Medical Services(EMS) or paramedics, the emergency department, or the hospital.
From date of enrolment until the date of acute care discharge or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 3 month
Survival to acute care discharge with favourable neurological outcome
Time Frame: From date of enrolment until the date of acute care discharge or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 3 months
Defined as no change in baseline neurological function (measured using the Cerebral Performance Category)
From date of enrolment until the date of acute care discharge or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 3 months
Intervention-associated injuries
Time Frame: From date of enrolment until the date of acute care discharge or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 3 months
Listed summary of any injuries reported among patient recruited for study occurring as a result of the FBAO intervention as determined by the treating physician/care provider
From date of enrolment until the date of acute care discharge or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Calgary

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Cody Dunne, MD, University of Calgary

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 5, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 5, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 11, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 11, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 5, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • REB25-0419

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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