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Abstract
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In 2005, drowning accounted for 3,582 unintentional fatalities in the United States plus another 710 fatalities, from drowning and other causes, due to boating- related incidents (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2008). For every person who died of drowning, several times that number received emer- gency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. Often these people were hospitalized or transferred to another facility for treatment. Nonfatal drowning incidents can result in long-term disabilities including a permanent loss of basic functioning.
Globally, an estimated 376,000 drowned in 2002, which makes drowning the third leading cause worldwide of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle accidents and falls (World Health Organization, Web page on "Drowning," 2008). The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that this enormous figure sub- stantially underestimates the global burden of drowning because it excludes drowning related to floods and boating.
Prevention of drowning requires effective measures that address known risk factors. To correctly identify risk factors, data collection is needed wherever drowning incidents occur. Historically, data collection has been hindered by the lack of a uniform and internationally-recognized definition of water-related injury, which takes into account injuries that both do and do not result in death (van Beek, Branche, Szpilman, Modell, & Bierens, 2005).
To achieve uniformity and international recognition of the definition of drowning, experts entered into a period of vigorous debate that culminated in consensus being reached during a World Congress on Drowning (WCOD) in 2002. During the discussion period, congress participants discussed the suitability of earlier definitions in addition to alternative new definitions. After rigorously analyzing the issues associated with all definitions in use before the conference, the experts there agreed to adopt the following new definition: "Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in liquid." Based on this consensus, WHO published a strong recommendation that the uniform definition be used to properly describe the problem and allow for effective comparisons of drowning trends (World Health Organization, Fact Sheet on "Drowning," 2008)....
Language: en |