Drowning in Denmark: A Registry-based Study of Fatal and Non-fatal Drowning From 2016 to 2023

Prehospital Center, Region Zealand

Status: Completed

Conditions: Drowning

Treatments: Other: Drowning incident

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05425537

DROWN_NONFATAL

Details and patient eligibility

About

Using nationwide data from the prehospital electronic health records from 2016 to 2023, this registry-based cohort study aims to establish a nationwide epidemiological profile of non-fatal and fatal drowning patients in Denmark in adherence with the Utstein Style For Drowning (USFD) recommended guidelines for uniform reporting of data from drowning. This includes reporting the annual incidence rates per 100,000 person-years, assessing the associations between predefined prognostic variables and 30-day survival, and reporting the spatial distribution of drowning incidents presented on a map of Denmark.

Full description

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to establish a nationwide epidemiological profile of non-fatal and fatal drowning patients in Denmark which can be used to target educational, preventative, rescue, or treatment strategies to reduce the number of fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents in Denmark.

Objectives

The primary objective is to estimate the yearly incidence rates of drowning patients in Denmark treated by the Danish Emergency Medical Services from 2016 to 2023. The secondary objective is to report the associations between predefined prognostic variables and 30-day survival.

Study design

A nationwide registry-based study with data from the Danish Drowning Cohort (extracted from the prehospital electronic health records using syndromic surveillance and extensive manual validation) from 2016 to 2023 with 30-day follow-up.

Enrollment: 1,664 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• The patient must have been experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid AND
• The patient must have been in contact with the Danish prehospital emergency medical services.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients were excluded if the incident involved submersion or immersion with aspiration, but the patient did not experience respiratory impairment. For example, if the patient was rescued from the water without signs of respiratory impairment, or if the respondent reported "a few coughs" or "voluntary cough".

Trial design

1,664 participants in 2 patient groups

Fatal drowning

Description:

Fatal drowning incident where the patient died because of the drowning process

Treatment:

Other: Drowning incident

Non-fatal drowning

Description:

Non-fatal drowning incident where the patient was drowning and can be ascertained to have been experiencing either mild, moderate, or severe respiratory impairment immediately after the drowning process ended but survived.

Treatment:

Other: Drowning incident