[Epidemiology of unintentional drowning in children younger than 5 years in Italy]

The objective of the study was to describe the epidemiology of unintentional drowning in Italy in the period 1983-1997, in the age-group 0-4 years. We used mortality data from the Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT), and calculated the potential years of life lost (PYLL), for the single age-group and for all the children aged 0-4 years, following the CDC method (age limit 65 years). Only in 1983 the rate of mortality due to accidental drowning in the age-group 0-4 years was over 1.00 per 100,000 inhabitants (1.27). In the male sex the rate was over 1/100,000 in 1983 (1.93), 1984 (1.18) and 1989 (1.03). In the females the higher rate reached was 0.66/100,000 (1984). Considering both genders, the lower rate was reached in 1997 (0.33/100,000), and it was 0.42 for males (1992) and 0.07 for females (1988). Considering all ages, statistically significant differences in the mean death rates were found by sex (0.8/100,000 for males and 0.31/100,000 for females; t = 4.504; p < 0.0001). Considering the single age-groups, statistically significant differences in the mean death rates were found by sex only for 2, 3 and 4 years (respectively, p = 0.005; p = 0.001 e p < 0.0001). Considering all children, we estimated a PYLL of 15,750 years (PYLL for males representing 72.2%). The mean death rate for unintentional drowning in the age-group 0-4 years in Italy is lower than the mean vaues in other countries, but there is a clear need to lower this kind of death, that accounted for almost 16,000 PYLL in the period 1983-1997.