just-in-time-96

Hi Drs- this is actually one that someone sent me, but I thought I’d pass it along -

Over the past few years I have visited the WHO website and looked up Drowning. I have seen the figure of 372,000 the first time I visited years ago, the WHO Drowning Implementation Guide attached lists 360,000 as the global drowning number in the Foreword and 360,000 was the number given on the web page on 11/12/2019. The last time I looked before today the web page had been updated in February of 2020 and that page listed the global drowning number as 320,000.

Today when I went onto the WHO site the number of annual global drowning deaths is 236,000. This represents a 34% decrease from the 360,000 listed in their implementation guide and a 26% decrease from the 320,000 listed on their webpage before this current update. 34% and 26% seem like significant numbers and I am wondering if anyone has any insight into what this can be attributed to?

Because the US Water Safety Action Plan originated from a World Health Organization recommendation and we are basing our recommendations on statistical data and facts, I felt it might be important to understand where their information is derived from and what led to the big decrease in annual global drowning fatalities.

https://www.who.int/health-topics/drowning#tab=tab_1https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.who.int/health-topics/drowning*tab=tab_1__;Iw!!NuzbfyPwt6ZyPHQ!8FIfc1StgG-nebwUTNCVFzecRD5b8LrhAc9tXtorWwxFI4l_OAqH1AyKUUsm3FGI49OW1dtL$

-Dr Justin

What are the risk factors for autonomic conflict? Is there an association with water temp, age, pre-existing heart disease, etc…?

I like to use the example of being at the dinner table. We’ve all had some water “go down the wrong pipe”. This is due to water irritation of the upper airways and usually resolves within a few moments. This is not concerning. When water in unintentionally inhaled and gets further into the lungs, it can cause irritation that is more than you would expect at the dinner table. 99% of the time, this doesn’t cause any problems. But 1% of the time, the lung irritation continues and can cause low oxygen and possible brain damage. This occurs immediately after being pulled from the water, but can be subtle and go unrecognized. There is no time when the person is 100% asymptomatic, then later develops symptoms. These symptoms get better or worse over the next 6 hours.

The most important part is recognition and early treatment.

The flip side is that if symptoms (literally anything) develop after 6 hours or after a completely asymptomatic period, parents should always seek care from a doctor, but the cause is not due to the drowning event.

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/is-dry-drowning-real/277-dd31ca95-8150-45de-b6ca-d6d61c6a4f6e

Source: https://www.ccjm.org/content/85/7/529

‘Dry drowning’ and other myths

David Szpilman, MD, Justin Sempsrott, MD, Jonathon Webber, RN, Seth C. Hawkins, MD, Roberto Barcala-Furelos, PhD, Andrew Schmidt, DO, MPH and Ana Catarina Queiroga, PhD

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/is-dry-drowning-real/277-dd31ca95-8150-45de-b6ca-d6d61c6a4f6e

Thanks for the ping!

Thank you!