Trends in childhood drowning on U.S. farms, 1986-1997

Computerized mortality data files from the National Center for Health Statistics were analyzed to describe childhood farm drowning from 1986 through 1997. Farm drowning rates were compared to the U.S. unintentional youth drowning rates for the same period. The denominator for the calculation of rates was derived from a series of farm youth estimates published by the Bureau of Census. There were 378 childhood farm drowning cases during the study period, for an average annual rate of 2.3 deaths per 100,000 farm youth resident years. This rate is comparable to unintentional drowning rates for U.S. youth (2.2/100,000 population). Fatality rates declined 28% from 1986 through 1997 (p = .0024) for farm youth and 41% for U.S. youth (p = .0001). An average 32 farm drowning incidents occur to youth annually, making drowning a legitimate concern for farm residents and visitors.