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Drowning and near‐drowning in Northern Territory children
Author(s) -
Edmond Karen M,
Attia John R,
D'Este Catherine A,
Condon John T
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2001.tb143744.x
Subject(s) - incidence (geometry) , demography , medicine , poison control , injury prevention , near drowning , population , occupational safety and health , rate ratio , pediatrics , emergency medicine , environmental health , physics , pathology , sociology , optics
Objective To compare incidences of drowing for children in the Northern Territory (NT) with those in Queensland and the rest of Australia. Design Descriptive, retrospective, population‐based analysis of death and hospitalisation data for drowning and near‐drowning. Setting and participants Children aged 0–14 years resident in Australia from 1983 to 1998. Main outcome measures Age‐standardised average annual incidence of drowning (1983–1998) and near‐drowning (1994–1997) in children aged 0–4 and 5–14 years in the NT, Queensland and the rest of Australia. Results The average annual incidence of drowning and near‐drowning from 1994 to 1997 for children aged 0–4 years in the NT (67.82 per 1) was significantly higher than for Australia (24.45 per 1) (incident rate ratio [IRR], 2.77; 95% CI, 1.40–4.91) and for Queensland (32.55 per 1) (IRR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.05–3.94). The proportion of children aged 0–4 years drowning or near‐drowning in swimming pools from 1994 to 1997 was also significantly higher in the NT (83%) than Australia (64%) (difference, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.086–0.30) and Queensland (65%) (difference, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.069–0.29). From 1983 to 1998, the incidence of drowning in NT children aged 0–4 years increased by 0.4% per year (IRR, 1.004; 95% CI, 0.994–1.070), compared with a 5.0% reduction per year (IRR, 0.950; 95% CI, 0.937–0.963) in Australian children. Conclusions The incidences of drowning and near‐drowning in the NT are higher than in the rest of Australia and show no significant decrease. The NT should improve its measures for prevention of childhood drowning.