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NZ Drowning Statistics → | As at 5 Jun 2008 - 53 | Same time last year - 46 | Total for 2007 - 110 |
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Drowning
Drowning is a major, but often neglected, cause of accidental death globally. The surprising impact of drowning on public health is demonstrated by recent World Bank and World Health Organisation data placing drowning as the second leading cause of death from unintentional injury, after road traffic injuries.1
Drowning is New Zealand’s third highest cause of accidental deathMany people are unaware that only traffic incidents and falls cause more accidental deaths in New Zealand. Accurate annual drowning statistics only date to 1980 but peaked at 214 in 1985. Today the average, over the past 5 years, is 118. Much of the improvement shown in drowning rates can be attributed to the success of initiatives to raise awareness of water safety as an important social issue. The improved delivery of targeted educational initiatives has also contributed but far too many continue to lose their lives, frequently in preventable circumstances. Drowning affects all age groups but certain groups are particularly vulnerable. Pre-school children are one group constantly at risk; tragically incidents among this group nearly always involve a lack of appropriate supervision. Among adults, men aged between 18-35 dominate statistics in this country; this can be partly attributed to an increased likelihood to participate in activities with an increased level of risk.
Drowning – A DefinitionDrowning has been identified as a major global health problem. In 2002 world experts in clinical medicine, injury epidemiology, education and rescue developed an internationally accepted definition for drowning. Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/ immersion in liquid.1 It is important to note that the definition allows for both cases of fatal and non-fatal drowning which it is believed will lead to more reliable and comprehensive information on this global public health problem. It is salutary that in New Zealand, for every one fatality there are 8 near fatal drowning incidents.
Death By DrowningThis account explains the physiology involved in the process of drowning. “Researchers have shown that a human in a drowning situation holds their breathe for 87 seconds. That’s how long the instinct not to breathe can overcome the thought of running out of air; how long a sort of clear headedness lasts. Eighty-seven is the break point. Until the break point a drowning person is said to be undergoing “voluntary apnea” – choosing not to breathe. Lack of oxygen to the brain causes a sensation of darkness closing in from all sides. The panic of a drowning person is mixed with the odd incredulity that this is actually happening. Having never drowned before the body and the mind do not know how to die gracefully. When the first involuntary breath is taken most people are still conscious, which is unfortunate because the only thing more unpleasant than running out of air is breathing water. At this point the person goes from voluntary to involuntary apnea and the drowning begins in earnest. A spasmodic breath drags water into the mouth and windpipe and then one of two things happens. In about 10 percent of people water touching the vocal cords triggers an immediate contraction in the muscles around the larynx. This is called laryngospasm and it’s so powerful that it overcomes the breathing reflex and eventually suffocates the person. A person with laryngospasm dies without water in the lungs. In the other 90 per cent of people water floods the lungs and ends any warning transfer of oxygen to the blood. The clock is running down now; half-conscious and enfeebled by oxygen depletion, the drowning person is in no condition to fight. They have suffered for a minute or two. Their bodies, having imposed increasingly drastic measures to keep functioning, have finally started to shut down. Only the brain is alive, but its electrical activity gets weaker and weaker until, after 15-20 minutes, it ceases altogether.”2
[1] Bulletin of World Health Organisation, November 2005 [2] Copyright 1997 Sebastian Junger. Published by Fourth Estate. Reproduced with permission of Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency. |
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