It is common in drowning, both as a direct response to inhalation of water, and as a complication during rescue and resuscitation due to aspiration of vomit.In some individuals laryngospasm can occur spontaneously or as a result of reflux or impaired swallowing. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common cause of spontaneous laryngospasm. Treating GERD can lessen the frequency of spasms. The onset of spasms may be caused by a viral infection.It is also a complication associated with anesthesia. The spasm can happen often without any provocation, but tends to occur after tracheal extubation. In children, the condition can be particularly deadly, leading to cardiac arrest within 30–45 seconds, and is a possible cause of death associated with the induction of general anesthesia in the pediatric population. These situations are not to be confused with the benign laryngospam events seen in infants after feeding or due to reflux.It can sometimes occur during sleep, waking up the affected person. This usually occurs when the person has gastric acidity and develops re-flux during sleep, where the gastric acid causes irritation which will cause the spasm attack.It is also a symptom of hypoparathyroidism.It can also be caused by some medications such as lurasidone.
However, thalidomide is a teratogenic substance, and a proportion of children born during the 1960s had thalidomide embryopathy (TE). Of these babies born with TE, "about 40% of them died before their first birthday". The surviving individuals are now middle-aged and they report experiencing challenges (physical, psychological, and socioeconomic) related to TE. Individuals born with TE frequently experience a wide variety of health problems secondary to their TE. These health conditions include both physical and psychological conditions. When compared to individuals of similar demographic profiles, those born with TE report less satisfaction with their quality of life and their overall health. Access to health care services can also be a challenge for these people, and women in particular have experienced difficulty in locating healthcare professionals who can understand and embrace their needs. Brand names
Brand names include Contergan, Thalomid, Talidex, Talizer, Neurosedyn, Distaval and many others. Research
Research efforts have been focused on determining how thalidomide causes birth defects and its other activities in the human body, efforts to develop safer analogs, and efforts to find further uses for thalidomide. Thalidomide analogs
The exploration of the antiangiogenic and immunomodulatory activities of thalidomide has led to the study and creation of thalidomide analogs. Celgene has sponsored numerous clinical trials with analogues to thalidomide, such as lenalidomide, that are substantially more powerful and have fewer side effects — except for greater myelosuppression. In 2005, Celgene received FDA approval for lenalidomide (Revlimid) as the first commercially useful derivative.