Teenager dies after gaming for 22 days straight, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Teenager dies after gaming for 22 days straight

This article is more than 12 months old

A Russian teenager who lived in Bashkortostan, Russia, died after playing online computer games for 22 days in a row.

The Moscow Times reported that the 17-year-old boy was at first hospitalised, after he had lost consciousness early this week.

The exact cause of death is still not known and medical examiners are still looking into it.

Only known by the name Rustam, he had been spending time resting at home since Aug 8 after a leg injury left him unable to go out.

Rustam reportedly also had little adult supervision at home. 

According to Mirror Online, he was playing the game Defense Of The Ancients continuously, only stopping to eat and sleep.

Investigators found out that he had spent more than 2,000 hours playing the game in the last one and a half years.

Police spokesman Svetlana Abramova told Russian news site BlokNot: "In the last 22 days it is suspected he played the game almost all the time, stopping only to take a nap and grab a snack.

"Since August 8 he had a broken leg and has spent all his time at home playing computer games."

'ECONOMY CLASS SYNDROME'

Rustam's parents also told BlokNot that they heard him still working his keyboard till Aug 30 when all went quiet.

He was rushed to hospital and declared dead on arrival.

Doctors suspect that he may have died from deep vein thrombosis, also known as "economy class syndrome".

According to the website Better Health, a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot that forms in the veins of the leg.

A pulmonary embolism is a life-threatening complication of DVT.

Long-distance flights may contribute to the risk of DVT, hence the name "economy class syndrome". ​

Psychologist Rustam Kalimullin said: "Problems with video games become bigger if parents do not take enough care of children.

"It does not have to be that parents drink or take drugs, but simply do not pay enough attention to children. In those cases children escape from problems into virtual worlds."

Sources: The Moscow Times, Mirror Online, Better Health

Russiagamingteenagereconomy class syndromehealthDeath