Drowning

PURPOSE: To develop a method of differential diagnosis to drowning, due to analysis of the alveolar macrophages quantitative, in rats submitted to induced drowning in fresh water and salty water. METHODS: Were used 15 male adult rats Wistar EPM-1, weight 360g (SD=21,3), randomized in three groups: G1- Control; G2- Fresh water; G3- Salty water, each one with n=5. The animals have been anesthetized and tracheostomized to insert a cannula inside the trachea, for drowning induction. The lungs have been removed, weighed, prepared for histology and colored by immunohistochemistry. The macrophages have been counted in both lungs (right and left) of each animal. The statistical test used was ANOVA (SPSS.10) with p<0,05. RESULTS: The amount of macrophages was G3>G2>G1 with p=0,0001 in each comparison. The weight of lungs of G3 and G2 was higher than G1, with p>0,0001, however G3 and G2 do not possess difference statistics in the weight of lungs. CONCLUSION: The developed diagnost...

Eight children suffered drowning or near-drowning in Sydney pools over an 11-day period in January 2007. Four received basic life support (BLS) within 5 minutes of immersion and survived with good functional neurological outcomes. The other four were not discovered for >or= 5 minutes and all died. This cluster serves as a reminder that timely effective bystander BLS is crucial to survival and good clinical outcomes in near-drowning episodes.

A 19-year-old woman who was known to use illicit drugs (ecstasy and marijuana) was found floating in the ocean 100 yards from the beach. When last seen the previous evening, she had said to a friend that she was going to "get in the water." Reports to police indicated that she "may have been on ecstasy." There were no notes of a suicidal nature, illicit drugs, drug paraphernalia, tobacco cigarettes, or alcoholic beverages at the scene. Autopsy findings were consistent with drowning. Postmortem blood initially screened positive for methamphetamine and cannabinoids by ELISA and was subsequently confirmed for methylone by a specific GC-MS SIM analysis following solid-phase extraction. Concentrations found in the peripheral blood, central blood, vitreous, liver and gastric contents were measured at 3.4 mg/L 3.4 mg/L, 4.3mg/L, 11 mg/kg, and 1.7 mg, respectively. No other amphetamine-like compound (including ecstasy) was detected. These results are discussed in relation to previous cases of toxicity, and the lack of potential for substantial methylone postmortem redistribution.

Globally, drowning is one of the ten leading causes of child mortality. Children aged <5 years are particularly at risk, and children and young people continue to be overrepresented in drowning statistics. Accordingly, evidence informed interventions to prevent children drowning are of global importance. This review aimed to identify, assess and analyse public health interventions to reduce child drowning and investigate the use of behavioural theories and evaluation frameworks to guide child drowning prevention. Thirteen databases were searched for relevant peer reviewed articles. The systematic review was guided by the PRISMA criteria and registered with PROSPERO. Fifteen articles were included in the final review. Studies were delivered in high, middle and low income countries. Intervention designs varied, one-third of studies targeted children under five. Almost half of the studies relied on education and information to reduce drowning deaths, only three studies used a multi-...

Drowning is a leading cause of unintentional death. Rivers are a common location for drowning. Unlike other location-specific prevention efforts (home swimming pools and beaches), little is known about prevention targeting river drowning deaths. A systematic literature review was undertaken using English language papers published between 1980 and 2014, exploring gaps in the literature, with a focus on epidemiology, risk factors and prevention strategies for river drowning. Twenty-nine papers were deemed relevant to the study design including 21 (72.4%) on epidemiology, 18 (62.1%) on risk factors and 10 (34.5%) that proposed strategies for prevention. Risk factors identified included age, falls into water, swimming, using watercraft, sex and alcohol. Gaps were identified in the published literature. These included a lack of an agreed definition for rivers, rates for fatal river drowning (however, crude rates were calculated for 12 papers, ranging from 0.20 to 1.89 per 100 000 people ...

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to identify who is the casualty, who is the rescuer, where and under what circumstances a drowning incident can occur and to develop a risk assessment model of drowning for lifesaving in swimming and other aquatic and non-aquatic activities. Method: Three studies were undertaken. Study 1: The key words ‘drown’, ‘aquatic emergency’, ‘risk factors’, ‘lifeguard’, ‘water safety’, ‘lifesaving’ and ‘rescue’ were used in a literature search aiming to identify quantitative research studies with variables that might involve in a drowning incident. Study 2: A criterion sampling method obtained videos (n=41) containing drowning incidents that were visually observed. Study 3: A combination of convenience
and snowball sampling method obtained 34 semi-structured interviews from water safety professionals and aquatic athletes of different nations. The objective and subjective content of the video was recorded, the interviews were transcribed and both texts were inserted in the software NVIVO for content analysis. Conclusions: (1) When there is human activity in, on, around, near and under an aquatic environment, then, a drowning incident might happen to whomever (due to victim’s or rescuer’s mistake), wherever and under whatever circumstances. (2) The factors that determine the outcome of drowning incidents are, in order of significance, rescuer characteristics (Who 1), casualty characteristics (Who 2), location (Wherever), and general circumstances (Whatever). (3) Rescuer characteristics, and their interaction with other factors (mainly with casualty characteristics), appear to largely determine the outcome of drowning incidents. (4) Risk taking behaviour leads to drowning when casualties are willing to seek pleasure by engaging themselves in aquatic activities with risk that perceive as controllable. (5) The 4W model of drowning is a promising tool in lifesaving and lifeguarding.

Context: According to the 4W model one of the key factors of drowning is the casualty characteristics (Avramidis, Butterly, Llewellyn, 2007). The aim of the study was to identify if risk taking behaviour can lead to drowning after engagement in swimming and non-aquatic activities. Methods: Qualitative content analysis (QSR, 2002) of drowning incident videos (n = 41), and semi-structured interviews of those involved in drowning incidents (n = 34) followed by the measurement of frequencies and Boolean search with matrix intersection was conducted. Results/Discussion: Risk-taking behaviour was the cause of drowning in relatively few aquatic accidents (11, 15%). Sensation seekers were willing to take risks that involved psychological anxiety (7, 9%) for satisfying their need (e.g. illegal bungee jump and parachute jump from high bridges etc.) (Franken et al., 1992). Learning Outcomes: 1. People behave riskily while engaged in activities perceived as controllable by themselves and recognized as risky by others. 2. High sensation seekers are unrealistically optimistic, take risks voluntarily for satisfying their needs, view the world as less threatening and fearful, expect that the outcome would be less negative, and are likely to report a lifetime history of antisocial behaviour. 3. Risk taking behaviour can lead to drowning.

We conducted an extensive literature review using the search terms of “drowning” and “hypothermia” to discover the major factors related to differences in survival rate especially associated with hypothermic effects. Studies indicated that some differences in drowning survival could be identified associated with age, sex, length of submersion, reduced core body temperature, and quality of cardiopulmonary respiratory care. The variability of results associated with the large number of studies prevented us from making any recommendations about whether hypothermia can improve survival among either children or adults.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been hypothesized to be related to exposure to an extreme traumatic situation (life threatening or a serious injury) transforming capable (before the emergency) rescuers or victims to psychological wrecks afterwards. An extensive literature review was conducted to describe the problem and discover the recommended treatment for those affected by PTSD after an emergency episode in order to have a better chance of rehabilitation. Results confirmed that, PTSD is a serious and well researched anxiety disorder. It appears not only to those survived or witnessed an emergency but also to those who acted as lifesavers. The scientific evidence for the existence of PTSD symptoms in aquatics is very limited, and therefore, further research is required to establish whether PTSD symptoms have been neglected or unreported. A number of actions and measures in terms of prevention and treatment are suggested to be taken by affected rescuers, victims and rescue organizations while dealing with this disorder to avoid possible negative sequelae.

Legislation dealing with lifeguards can have a major impact on all aspects of aquatic safety including employers and employees, certifying organizations, local authorities and swimmers. The purpose of the present paper was to critically evaluate legislation in Greece related to lifeguarding. Results show that although lifeguarding is mandatory by law, changes need to be made focused on training and examination standards, the name and meaning of the lifeguard qualification, and the establishment and operation of lifeguard agencies and aquatic facilities.

The purpose of this article was to describe the prevalence of drowning as a cause of death in the mythology of ancient Greek history and under what circumstances it occurred. From all the names and references (n= 40,000) recorded in a database of the ancient and mythological Greek literature (Devouros, 2007), the number of drowning incidents was identified (n=37, 17 males (45.94%), 6 females (16.22%), and 14 reports of multiple casualties (37.84%). The review of the database confirmed that drowning was attributed to ‘acts of demigod’ but was more often due to human accidental submersion or to ‘acts of God’ such as disasters like heavy rain, flooding, or tsunamis. Based on this review, the causes and rates of drowning (down from 57.5 to 2.69 per 100,000 population) may have changed through the centuries, but death by drowning remains a major health problem in Greece.

The philosopher Immanuel Kant held the idea of ‘duty’ to be of utmost importance when it came to ethics. This duty-centered approach to ethics is known as a “deontological” one, as opposed to an end-result based ethics known as being “teleological.” This essay will define Kant’s use of ‘duty,’ ‘oughts,’ ‘obligations,’ ‘merit,’ and ‘partiality,’ and the application of these terms to such examples as saving a child from drowning and saving a child on the other side of the world by donating to a charitable organization. In each of these two cases, Kant’s concept of ‘merit’ will be considered. Any contentions I have with Kant’s ethical approach with the given examples will be provided respectively.

The aim of the present study was to develop a conceptual model of drowning incidents. Qualitative content analysis (QSR, 2002) of drowning incident videos (n = 41), and semi-structured interviews of those involved in drowning incidents (n = 34) followed by the measurement of frequencies and Boolean search with matrix intersection was conducted. Results confirmed that when there is human activity in, above, or around an aquatic environment, a drowning incident may occur to whomever, wherever, and under whatever circumstances may exist. Factors that determined drowning outcome were, in order of importance, rescuer characteristics (Who1), casualty characteristics (Who2), location (Wherever), and general circumstances (Whatever). The interaction of the rescuer with the casualty largely determines the outcome of drowning. The 4W model is a promising tool in lifesaving and lifeguarding.

Text in Bulgarian, from p. 62 text is in English.
The summer of 2011. We were sitting on the gloomy hallway on the thirteenth floor of a panel building. District Liulin. For a long time we were looking for the doorbell. Somewhere in the bottom of the corridor, a peeling door with an iron grating opened. Оn the doorstep appeared Mitko Grozdanov and welcomed us inside...

In the developed world, a sedentary life style has increased over the last century, leading to increased need for exercise, including aquatic activities, to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This may inevitably cause an increase in drowning deaths. The burden of drowning is seriously underestimated for various reasons in terms of injury epidemiology and as a result this causes several negative social, financial, legal, psychological consequences. This review aims to examine this drowning pandemic, its consequences for casualties, rescuers and the society, to raise questions that are posed by its consequences, and to suggest possible answers that may resolve the problem.

Aim: The purpose of this article was to describe the prevalence of drowning as a cause of death in the mythology of ancient Greek history and under what circumstances it occurred. Method: From all the names and references (n= 40,000) recorded in a database of the ancient and mythological Greek literature (Devouros, 2007), a criterion sampling method (Patton, 1990), based on two criteria (first cases that mentioned drowning were identified and second, a subset of those cases that specifically referred to human drowning was compiled) identified a number of drowning incidents (n=37), 17 males (45.94%), 6 females, (16.22%), and 14 reports of multiple casualties (37.84%). Discussion: The review of the database confirmed that drowning was attributed to ‘acts of demigod’ but was more often due to human initiative or to ‘acts of God’ such as disasters like heavy rain, flooding, or tsunamis. Results: Based on this review, the male: female ratio of this study was 3:1. In Greece today the average is 2.69 per 100,0000 population. Although this number is much lower than the rate in ancient Greece and mythology (57.5 per 100,000 population), however it is still double the average rate in the EU (1.27 per 100,000 population) (World Health Organization, 2002).