Drowning Incidents Treated by the Danish SAR Helicopters (DROWN_SAR)

Prehospital Center, Region Zealand

Status: Completed

Conditions: Drowning and Submersion While in Natural Water; Drowning and Submersion, Undetermined Intent; Drowning; Anoxia; Drowning and Nonfatal Submersion; Drowning, Near; Drowning or Immersion of Unknown Intent; Drowning; Drowning and Submersion Due to Sailboat Sinking; Drown; Drowning and Submersion Due to Fall Off Ship

Treatments: Other: Drowning incident

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06322134

DROWN_SAR

Details and patient eligibility

About

Improving oxygenation and ventilation in drowning patients early in the field is critical and may be lifesaving. This may be achieved by helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) such as the Danish Air Ambulance, or the Royal Danish Air Force's Search And Rescue (SAR) helicopters. The SAR operates in all weather conditions and is equipped with a hoist system, able to hoist patients from the sea or small ships without helipads. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of drowning missions attended by the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopter and describe patient characteristics and prehospital interventions.

Full description

The national Danish Drowning Cohort contains data on all fatal and non-fatal drowning patients treated by the Emergency Medical Services. However, data on drowning patients treated by the SAR helicopters is reported in a separate system.

The population of drowning patients treated by the SAR helicopters has never been described, thus contributing to the potential underreporting of the most critically ill drowning patients in Denmark. Given the rarity of drowning, registry-based studies are needed to provide patient characteristics and evaluate critical care interventions performed on this group of patients.

This study aims to identify and describe a national cohort of drowning patients at sea treated by the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopters from 2014 to 2023.

Enrollment: 247 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients treated by the Danish SAR helicopters AND
• Drowning as defined by the WHO (the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid)

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who have not been immersed or submersed.
• Duplets.
• Interhospital transfers.

Trial design

247 participants in 2 patient groups

Fatal drowning

Description:

Prehospital mortality following a drowning incident, defined as a dichotomous variable (dead or alive) evaluated at case termination. Patients admitted to the hospital with cardiac arrest were considered fatal drowning incidents in this study.

Treatment:

Other: Drowning incident

Non-fatal drowning

Description:

Drowning incidents where the patient had spontaneous circulation at hospital admission.

Treatment:

Other: Drowning incident