Understanding Trends in Pediatric Drowning Injuries in North Carolina.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Pediatric Injury Prevention

Background:

• Drowning is a major cause of death in children and adolescents.
• Understanding trends in pediatric drowning is crucial for public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze trends in emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric drowning in North Carolina from 2016 to 2022.
• To assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on pediatric drowning incidence rates.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool for surveillance data (2016-2022).
• Conducted a chart review on a subset of patients for detailed injury characterization.

Main Results:

• Identified 1285 ED encounters for pediatric drowning.
• Observed a decreasing trend in pediatric drowning incidence, with notable drops in 2019 and 2020.
• Found no statistically significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall statewide incidence rate (P = 0.14).
• Noted a change in the age distribution of children treated for drowning post-pandemic.

Conclusions:

• Pediatric drowning ED encounters in North Carolina have decreased.
• The COVID-19 pandemic had a discernible, though not statistically significant, effect on drowning incidence.
• Study limitations include reliance on ED presentations and potential underreporting.