Black children and youth are more likely to drown in public pools, and white children and youth are more likely to drown in residential pools. People with seizure disorders such as epilepsy are at a higher risk of fatal and nonfatal drowning than the general population. Drowning is the most common cause of unintentional injury death, with the bathtub being the most common site of drowning for people with seizure disorders. Drowning can happen quickly and quietly anywhere there is water, especially to unsupervised children.
It happens in lakes and oceans, pools, bathtubs, and even buckets of water. The highest risk locations for drowning vary by age. Among infants under 1 year old, two thirds of all drownings occur in bathtubs. Life jackets can prevent drowning during water activities, especially boating and swimming. Alcohol impairs balance, coordination, and judgment, and it increases risk-taking behavior.
Certain medications can increase the risk of drowning, especially psychotropic medications commonly prescribed for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other conditions. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Drowning Prevention. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Drowning Facts Minus Related Pages. Drowning is a leading cause of death for children. In the United States: More children ages 1—4 die from drowning than any other cause of death except birth defects.
For children ages 1—14 , drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes. While children are at highest risk, anyone can drown. Nonfatal drowning can result in long-term health problems and costly hospital stays.
For every child who dies from drowning, another eight receive emergency department care for non-fatal drowning. What is drowning? Fatal drowning happens when the drowning results in death. Top of Page. Some people have a higher risk of drowning. Children Children ages 1—4 have the highest drowning rates. Some racial and ethnic groups Drowning death rates for American Indian or Alaska Native people ages 29 and younger are 2 times higher than the rates for White people, with the highest disparities among those ages rates 3.
People with seizure disorders or certain medical conditions People with seizure disorders such as epilepsy are at a higher risk of fatal and nonfatal drowning than the general population. Certain factors make drowning more likely.
Lack of close supervision Drowning can happen quickly and quietly anywhere there is water, especially to unsupervised children. Location The highest risk locations for drowning vary by age. Not wearing life jackets Life jackets can prevent drowning during water activities, especially boating and swimming. Using drugs and prescription medications Certain medications can increase the risk of drowning, especially psychotropic medications commonly prescribed for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other conditions.
Accessed 16 April Because the victim has been without oxygen, the body shuts itself down as unconsciousness results. In this stage the victim will be motionless. There is no chest movement or breathing sounds. At this point the victim sinks to the bottom of the water, either slowly or rapidly, depending on factors such as the amount of air trapped in the lungs, body weight and muscle mass. The victim will remain unconscious and die unless breathing is re-established. The final stage in the drowning process is death……..
The victim is in cardiac arrest. The heart stops pumping blood. The vital organs are no longer receiving oxygen rich blood. The lack of oxygen causes the skin to turn blue. The earlier the lifesaver begins……. This is called biological death. It is essential to counter one of the factors which contributes to drowning as soon as possible and certainly before the stage of possible rescue is reached.
Any plan to prevent drowning must aim to break one of these links and so avoid the ultimate fate. An intervention is most successful if it breaks this first link in the drowning chain. Through education comes recognition and therefore avoidance of danger. The danger is then recognised, respected and avoided. So one thing in a current based water body like the ocean is that you may notice somebody who's swimming and not making any headway may be a sign of drowning.
Whereas in a pool, that may be a less common sign. Interviewer: Sure. All right, so let's talk about some of the things that lifeguards look for, they usually look for drowning, you know, that somebody is drowning.
Scott: Okay. Well, during the drowning response, as it's called, which doesn't look like drowning at all as we expect, it occurs silently and rapidly. The person often is not kicking their legs so the legs are still. The person holds their face near the top of the water usually with their head tilted back and their mouth at the level of water.
And they'll be bobbing up and down opening their mouth, trying to gasp for air and they won't be able to scream because of the work required to try to get air in as they bob up to the surface. Their arms are often extended out from them and they're used to push down against the water and bring them toward the surface. And this is actually a non-voluntary response. It's something that's hardwired and reflexive in the sort of the lower parts of our brain to try to help us survive a drowning event.
So their head's back, their mouth is open, they may have hair over their eyes and forehead. So if you see somebody who's swimming and their hair is completely covering their eyes, that's abnormal. People normally remove that from their eyes so they can see where they're going, what they're doing, so that can be a subtle sign as well. Their eyes may be closed. Their eyes, if open, will have a glassy appearance, they seem to be not fixed on any particular object or looking around.
They're just kind of staring off into space. They may be hyperventilating or gasping as I said, and they often appear to be climbing an invisible ladder using those arms to try to pull themselves up into the top of the water and get some air.
They may be trying to roll onto their back and as I mentioned before trying to swim without making any headway, particularly in the ocean. So those are the signs. As I say, they're subtle, they can be indistinguishable from somebody who's just sort of floating on their back and their legs are down below them, but are the things to watch for.
Interviewer: Like you wouldn't know the struggle going on unless you look for some of those signs.
0コメント