Martinez Rammell Eric, Go John Juliard, Guevarra Jonathan
Office of the WHO Representative in the Philippines, Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines .
Department of Health Promotion and Education, College of Public Health, University of the Philippines Manila.
Western Pac Surveill Response J. 2016 Nov 8;7(4):1-5. doi: 10.5365/WPSAR.2016.7.2.005. eCollection 2016 Oct-Dec.
Drowning kills 372 000 people yearly worldwide and is a serious public health issue in the Philippines. This study aims to determine if the drowning death rates in the Philippine Health Statistics (PHS) reports from 1980 to 2011 were underestimated. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted to describe the trend of deaths caused by drowning in the Philippines from official and unofficial sources in the period 1980 to 2011. Information about deaths related to cataclysmic causes, particularly victims of storms and floods, and maritime accidents in the Philippines during the study period were reviewed and compared with the PHS drowning death data. An average of 2496 deaths per year caused by drowning were recorded in the PHS reports from 1980 to 2011 (range 671-3656). The average death rate was 3.5/100 000 population (range 1.3-4.7). An average of 4196 drowning deaths were recorded from 1980 to 2011 (range 1220 to 8788) when catacylsmic events and maritime accidents were combined with PHS data. The average death rate was 6/100 000 population (range 2.5-14.2). Our results showed that on average there were 1700 more drowning deaths per year when deaths caused by cataclysms and maritime accidents were added to the PHS data. This illustrated that drowning deaths were underestimated in the official surveillance data. Passive surveillance and irregular data management are contributing to underestimation of drowning in the Philippines. Additionally, deaths due to flooding, storms and maritime accidents are not counted as drowning deaths, which further contributes to the underestimation. Surveillance of drowning data can be improved using more precise case definitions and a multisectoral approach.
全球范围内，溺水每年导致37.2万人死亡，这在菲律宾是一个严重的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在确定1980年至2011年菲律宾卫生统计（PHS）报告中的溺水死亡率是否被低估。开展了一项回顾性描述性研究，以描述1980年至2011年期间菲律宾官方和非官方来源的溺水死亡趋势。对研究期间菲律宾与灾难性原因相关的死亡信息，特别是风暴和洪水受害者以及海上事故的信息进行了审查，并与PHS溺水死亡数据进行了比较。1980年至2011年的PHS报告中记录的溺水年平均死亡人数为2496人（范围为671 - 3656人）。平均死亡率为3.5/10万人口（范围为1.3 - 4.7）。当将灾难性事件和海上事故与PHS数据相结合时，1980年至2011年记录的溺水死亡平均人数为4196人（范围为1220至8788人）。平均死亡率为6/10万人口（范围为2.5 - 14.2）。我们的结果表明，将灾难性事件和海上事故导致的死亡人数添加到PHS数据中后，平均每年溺水死亡人数增加了1700人。这表明官方监测数据中溺水死亡人数被低估了。被动监测和不规范的数据管理导致菲律宾溺水情况被低估。此外，洪水、风暴和海上事故导致的死亡未被计为溺水死亡，这进一步导致了低估。使用更精确的病例定义和多部门方法可以改善溺水数据的监测。
