@article{ref1,
title="Hospital-admitted drowning in Victoria, Australia, before and after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic",
journal="Injury prevention",
year="2024",
author="Berecki-Gisolf, Janneke and Matthews, Bernadette and Calverley, Hannah and Abrahams, Jonathan and Peden, Amy E.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: To examine trends in hospitalisation following drowning in Victoria, Australia, before and after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. <br><br>DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of administrative hospital admission records. SETTING: Hospital admissions recorded in the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset.   PARTICIPANTS: Hospital-admitted patients with ≥1 drowning-related International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification diagnosis code.   MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence and incidence rate ratios (IRR; 95% CIs) of hospital-admitted drowning that occurred before (July 2017 to June 2019), during (July 2019 to June 2021) and after (July 2021 to June 2022) the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. <br><br>RESULTS: There were 736 hospital admissions related to drowning in the study period; the incidence was 2.6 per 100 000 population pre-COVID-19 and dropped to 2.0 per 100 000 during (2019/2020-2020/2021) and after (2021/2022) the onset of the pandemic. Among Victorian residents, drowning was positively associated with younger age, male sex and regional/remote residence. Drowning was negatively associated with the onset of COVID-19 (IRR 0.76 (0.64, 0.90)) as well as the post-COVID-19 period (0.78 (0.64, 0.97)), compared with pre-COVID-19. Natural water drowning rates were consistently higher than pool or bathtub drowning rates. Pool or bathtub drowning rates decreased with the onset of COVID-19; no significant change was observed in the natural water drowning rate. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Pool and bathtub drowning rates declined since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite more time spent at home, while natural water drowning rates remained consistently high. Hospital admissions provide a valuable data source for monitoring of drowning, which is crucial to ensure a targeted, evidence-based approach to mitigate drowning risk.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1353-8047",
doi="10.1136/ip-2023-045206",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-045206"
}