Who is Most at Risk for Drowning?
Posted on August 12, 2014
Hello and welcome back!
Yesterday we talked about some ways to keep children safe while in the water. Which reminds me of a story of when I was an intern I took care of a little 2 year old boy who wandered away from home and fell into a cold pool. Thankfully he survived despite being submerged for over 20 minutes, but he was lucky.
Today I want to share an article about who, besides children, are most at risk of drowning.
If you witnessed someone drowning? What do you think you would do?
Did you know that drowning ranks fifth among the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States.
Who is most at risk?
Everyone is at risk but research shows if you fall into one of these categories you may be more at risk:
Males: Nearly 80% of people who die from drowning are male.
Children: Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects). Among those aged 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes.
African Americans: The fatal unintentional drowning rate for African Americans was significantly higher than that of other ethnic communities across all ages. African American children 5-19 drown in swimming pools at rates 5.5 times higher than other ethnicities.
Factors such as access to swimming pools, the desire or lack of desire to learn how to swim, and choosing water-related recreational activities may contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates.
A little knowledge can go a long way to saving a life. Tomorrow I’ll talk about what influences drowning risk.
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