Descriptive Epidemiology of Pediatric DrowningPatients Presenting to a Large Southern US Children’s Hospital

Objectives:Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1to 4, and it is among the leading causes of death for children of allages. National data show disparities in drowning risk for certain racialgroups. This study aimed to describe characteristics of patients pre-senting after a drowning event to guide focused drowning preventionoutreach efforts.Methods:This was a retrospective chart review study designed to analyzethe epidemiologic and demographic characteristics of drowning-relatedinjuries and deaths that presented to a large, urban, southern US pediatrichospital from 2016 to 2019. All patients aged 0 to 19 years were identi-fied usingInternational Classification of Diseases, Ninth RevisionandTenth Revisioncodes for drowning or submersion injuries.Results:One hundred sixty-two patients met the inclusion criteria forthe study. Submersion injuries were most common in the 1- to 5-year-oldage group. Fifty-eight percent of patients were male. The analysis of raceshowed that 65% of patients were White and 33% of patients were Black.Pools were the setting for 78% of drowning events. Fifty-four percent ofpatients received cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Sixty-four percent ofpatients required hospitalization after the injury.Conclusions:Characteristics of drowning victims may vary signifi-cantly from national data, depending on the area involved. This findinghighlights the need for assessing local data to better inform local out-reach. Further research is necessary to understand why such varianceexists. Drowning prevention education, tailored toward pool safety andpreschool-age children, should be a focus of injury prevention efforts.