Byard R W, Lipsett J
Forensic Science Centre and Department of Histopathology, Women's and Children's Hospital, and University of Adelaide, Australia.
Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1999 Dec;20(4):328-32. doi: 10.1097/00000433-199912000-00003.
Infants who are preambulatory and toddlers who have only just learned to walk have particular characteristics that give them a unique susceptibility to drowning in certain circumstances. A study of drowning deaths in 32 infants and children <2 years of age in South Australia over a 35-year period from March 1963 to February 1998 was undertaken. The age range was 3 to 24 months (average, 15.4 months), and there was a male:female ratio of 21:11. Drownings occurred in home swimming pools (N = 10); baths (N = 9); waterways (i.e., rivers, irrigation ditches, sea; N = 5); buckets, bins, sinks (N = 4); and fish ponds (N = 3). Details were lacking in one case. Two cases raised questions regarding the manner of death and the possibility of inflicted injury. Specific problems that occur in the assessment of infant drownings include the vulnerability of infants to accidental and nonaccidental drowning, the absence of autopsy findings in inflicted drowning, and the lack of independent witnesses to the fatal episodes. Although the numbers of childhood drownings have declined in recent years, specific situations that remain dangerous for infants include unsupervised bathing and access to swimming pools, fish ponds, and industrial buckets containing water. Complete submersion does not have to occur for drowning to take place.
刚开始能独立行走的婴儿和刚学会走路的幼儿具有特殊的身体特征，这使得他们在某些情况下特别容易溺水。对1963年3月至1998年2月这35年间南澳大利亚州32名2岁以下婴儿和儿童溺水死亡情况进行了研究。年龄范围为3至24个月（平均15.4个月），男女比例为21:11。溺水事故发生在家用游泳池（10起）、浴缸（9起）、水道（即河流、灌溉沟渠、大海；5起）、水桶、水槽（4起）和鱼塘（3起）。有1起案例细节缺失。有2起案例引发了关于死亡方式和是否存在故意伤害的疑问。评估婴儿溺水时出现的具体问题包括婴儿易发生意外和非意外溺水、溺水死亡尸检无结果以及致命事件缺乏独立目击者。尽管近年来儿童溺水事件有所减少，但对婴儿仍然危险的具体情况包括无人监管的洗澡以及接触游泳池、鱼塘和装有水的工业水桶。发生溺水不一定需要完全浸没。
