Chapter 29 Drowning
EPIDEMIOLOGY
In Australia 39 children died from drowning in 2000/1, and the 5-year average was 35, a figure again reached in 2006/7. In 2006/7 277 people overall drowned, an increase of 13% on the 5-year average. Males of all ages, except those aged 0–4 years, were almost three times as likely as females to drown and, while the number of drowning deaths in lagoons and lakes dropped by 53% compared to the 5-year average, drownings at the beach increased by 39%. Deaths in over 55s remained stable at the average. The most common location of drowning among children was in domestic swimming pools, with the second commonest location being in the bath. Indigenous Australians are four times more likely to drown than other Australians, and alcohol or drug use was implicated in 14% of accidental drownings in Australia, of whom 79% were males.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
What appears clear is that initial voluntary breath holding precedes a variable degree of aspiration of water, followed eventually by apnoea, with the common pathway in all drowning being profound hypoxia associated with acidosis and hypercapnoeia. This hypoxia not only leads to unconsciousness, loss of airway reflexes and aspiration, but also leads to the cardiovascular effects of drowning. These include extreme bradycardia, ventricular fibrillation and asystole, which are often exacerbated by hypothermia in cold waters. Hypothermia is common in child victims of drowning due to their large surface area:body mass ratio and, although hypothermia has been associated with a poor prognosis after drowning as it is related to the duration of submersion, it has also been associated with a better prognosis, particularly in children, presumably due to a protective effect on cerebral organ function with the rapid onset of low temperatures. There have been several cases reported of survival of both children and adults following submersion in cold water for up to 66 minutes.
OUTCOME
Individuals with any of these features have been reported to survive without disability, although the chances of successful resuscitation to a favourable neurological outcome are usually slim. Importantly, age has no independent association with outcome.
Drowning victims may be classified into one of four groups based on presenting physical examination: