Key Health Data for the West Midlands 2002: Chapter 9: Drownings

Key Health Data for the West Midlands 2002

CHAPTER NINE: DROWNINGS

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Preface

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List of Tables
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Main Body

Annexe

1: The Geography of the West Midlands

2: Life Expectancy and Inequalities

4: Chemical incidents in the West Midlands

9: Drownings

11: National Health Service Priority Areas

9.1 Introduction

This chapter reports on the safety of our inland waterways and lakes in terms of those who accidentally drown. Inland water is defined being either linear (rivers, streams, canals) or enclosed (lakes, reservoirs, and quarries). Ponds, swimming pools, baths, estuaries, beaches and open sea are excluded. For deaths due to drowning those recorded as suicide are excluded. Inland water sites are the most common location for drowning in Great Britain. In the last 13 years 3,556 people have drowned in the lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams and canals found in Great Britain (RoSPA, 2002). Across the West Midlands around 20 people a year die in such circumstances.

The Government's Accident Taskforce has recognised the importance of drowning in the objectives they have set for reducing accidental deaths. They highlight in particular the risk to children and look to reduce such events through "improved water safety awareness." (Accidental Injury Task Force, 2002)

The data presented here are collected by a press cutting service run for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). They have data covering the period from 1989 to the present. Here we report on data for the years 1997 to 2001. The data relate to where a person drowned rather than where the person was resident.

9.2. Temporal trend

Table 9.1 shows the numbers of drownings by county for the five years from 1997 to 2001 as counts and an annual average crude incidence rate based on the local population. There is no consistent temporal trend in the numbers of drownings, with an average of 20 people dying annually. Annual drowning rates are affected by the number of leisure users, and weather patterns, particularly hot summers. It appears that the risk of drowning may be higher in the more rural counties than in the urban ones. It was not possible to separate the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Table 9.1. Inland drowning by county, 1997 to 2001

9.3. Demography

Drowning in inland water has two notable peaks, one in those aged over 75 and the other in males aged 15-30 (Figure 9.1). In those aged over 75 drowning becomes an increasingly common way of dying, probably because of more frequent falls and a decreasing ability to save oneself. In those aged 15-30 alcohol plays a part in many drownings. The most exposed groups are not those identified by the Government for preventative interventions.

Figure 9.1. Age-sex profile of drowning in inland water: average annual rate per 10,000 based on deaths from 1997 to 2001

9.4. Location of drowning

There is little information recorded on where the person entered the water. This is in part due to the fact that a body can travel a significant distance before being spotted. Figure 9.2 reports the type of water in which the person was found. It reflects more the prevalence of water types than an inherent risk in any one type of water body. There are fewer kilometres of canals in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and Shropshire than in the West Midlands County (see Figure 9.3).

	Figure 9.2. Location of drowning, by county, based on deaths from 1997 to 2001

	Figure 9.3. The canals of the West Midlands region

9.5. Activity prior to drowning

Activity prior to death are divided in two groups: one, water based activities, where a person has either entered the water or taken part in activity on the water knowingly; or two, waterside activities during which a person has entered the water unintentionally. For most drownings there are no witnesses. This can be seen in the number of "unknown and found" (40 deaths) (Table 9.2). Most drownings occur whilst swimming (13 deaths) which is probably unsupervised. For waterside activities, entering the water in a vehicle coming off the road is as common as a trip, fall or push (involuntary access), both resulting in 11 deaths. Deliberate access includes occupational exposure.

Table 9.2. Activity undertaken during which the person drowned, by county, based on deaths from 1997 to 2001

References

The Accidental Injury Task Force Preventing Accidental Injury - Priorities for Action Report to the Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, 2002. (at http://www.doh.gov.uk/accidents/pdfs/preventinginjury.pdf)

RoSPA, Annual Drowning Statistics 1989 - 2001. Birmingham: Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, 2002.

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© Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Birmingham