Highlights
- Most drowning deaths in Pretoria are amongst children who die in swimming pools.
- Positive blood alcohol was present in 42% of adult drowning.
- A thorough medico-legal investigation of immersion-related deaths should be done.
- The majority of these deaths appear to be preventable.
- Public awareness and legislation should aim to prevent future drowning deaths.
Drowning
is classified as the 3rd leading cause of accidental deaths worldwide and is
deemed to be a preventable cause of death. Bodies retrieved from a water medium
pose several challenges to the forensic pathologist with the diagnosis of
drowning being primarily one of exclusion.
The aim of this study was to do a
retrospective descriptive case audit of bodies retrieved from water and
immersion related deaths, which were investigated at the Pretoria Medico-Legal
Laboratory (PMLL) over a 10 year period (January 2002 through December 2011). A
total of 346 cases were identified for inclusion into this study. In 6% (20) of
these cases, the death was not related to drowning; in 14% (48) no clear cause
of death could be ascertained and in 278 cases (80%) the cause of death was
considered to have been due to drowning. Infants (under 1 year, of age)
constituted 41 (15%) of the cases; toddlers (aged 1–2 years) comprised 52 (19%)
cases; children (aged 2–13 years) 49 (18%) cases; adolescents (aged 13–18
years) comprised 10 (3%) cases; adults (above 18, years) made up 126 (45%) of
the cases. The majority of the drownings, occurred in swimming pools [125 cases
(38%)]. In infants 23 (56%) of, drownings occurred in swimming pools followed
by buckets [7 cases (17%)]. Sixty-nine per cent of toddler drownings (36 cases)
occurred in swimming, pools. In the adult population, 40 (32%) of cases
occurred in pools and 35 cases (28%) in rivers. Positive blood alcohol results
were recorded in 48, (42%) out of 113 cases where the test was requested, 40
(35%) of these, cases higher than 0.05 g per 100 ml.
This study
suggests that many drowning deaths in Pretoria may be preventable by
introducing greater public awareness of the risks and instituting relatively
simple, protective measures.
Below: Trend in the number of drownings over the study period
Below: Month-on-month incidence of drowning
Below: Location of drowning
Full article at: http://goo.gl/GSsY6X
By:
- 1University of Pretoria, Department of Forensic Medicine, Private Bag X323, Arcadia, 0007, South Africa.
- 2University of Pretoria, Department of Forensic Medicine, Private Bag X323, Arcadia, 0007, South Africa. Electronic address: lorraine.dutoit@up.ac.za.
- J Forensic Leg Med. 2016 Jan;37:66-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2015.10.010. Epub 2015 Nov 5.
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