Drowning, Drowning and Submersion Due to Fall Off Ship, Drowning and Submersion Due to Sailboat Sinking, Drowning and Submersion, Undetermined Intent, Drowning and Submersion While in Bath-Tub, Drowning and Submersion While in Natural Water, Drowning and Submersion While in Swimming-Pool, Drowning; Anoxia, Drowning; Asphyxia, Drowning/Diving/SCUBA Accident, Drowning in Swimming Pool, Drowning, Near, Drowning or Immersion of Unknown Intent
Conditions
Keywords
Drowning, Epidemiology, Danish Prehospital Drowning Data, Danish Drowning Formula, Registry, Cohort, Autopsy, Cause of death, Death certificate, Database, Denmark, Utstein
Brief summary
According to WHO's rules, any death certificate must state the underlying cause of death and contributory causes of death may also be stated. Differentiating between primary and secondary drowning is difficult, as information preceding the drowning incident is rarely available. Yet, knowing the most frequent causes of secondary drowning may provide useful information to healthcare professionals working in prehospital Emergency Medical Services, as this may affect prehospital treatment.
Detailed description
The annual death statistics are based solely on the underlying cause of death, that is the disease or condition which started the process that led to death. The conditions that directly caused the death are also to be stated by the physician on the death certificate and may be included in the statistics. In research projects, data on those contributory causes of death may be drawn from the register. It is now the medical doctor who has verified the death and issued the death certificate indicating the underlying and contributory causes of death, who also classifies these causes in accordance with ICD-10 and fills in the coded data on the electronic death certificate. The Danish Register of Causes of Death is, thus, updated without central validation of the classification and relies entirely on the coding done by individual physicians. This study aims to characterise fatal drowning incidents as primary or secondary drownings and report the frequencies of secondary drowning causes.
Interventions
OTHERDrowning
Drowning is defined as the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid.
Sponsors
Prehospital Center, Region Zealand
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
RETROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* All drowning patients registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data AND * Having a fatal outcome within 30 days after the drowning incident AND * Having a valid civil registration number in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data * Being able to link data from the Danish Register of Causes of Death
Exclusion criteria
* Patients alive 30 days after the drowning incident * Patients with an invalid civil registration number in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data * Patients where data cannot be retrieved from the Danish Register of Causes of Death
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Autopsy rate | Data is extracted on patients registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data from 2016-2023. | Calculated as the number of autopsy reports divided by the number of fatal drowning incidents registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data. |
| Primary fatal drowning rate | Data is extracted on patients registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data from 2016-2023. | Calculated as the number of autopsy reports stating drowning as the underlying cause of death divided by the number of fatal drowning incidents registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data. |
| Secondary fatal drowning rate | Data is extracted on patients registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data from 2016-2023. | Calculated as the number of autopsy reports stating drowning as the contributory cause of death OR not stating drowning as a contributory cause of death divided by the number of fatal drowning incidents registered in the Danish Prehospital Drowning Data. |
Countries
Denmark
Outcome results
None listed