Lippmann John, Taylor David McD, Stevenson Christopher, Williams Joanne W
Divers Alert Network Asia-Pacific, Ashburton, Victoria, Australia.
School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Melbourne.
Diving Hyperb Med. 2018 Mar 31;48(1):23-30. doi: 10.28920/dhm48.1.23-30.
This study aimed to compare the results from three Australian scuba diver surveys. As the surveys differed in recruitment methods, the expectation was that respondents would differ in some important characteristics.
Anonymous, online, cross-sectional surveys of the demographics, health, diving practices and outcomes were distributed to: (1) Divers Alert Network Asia-Pacific (DAN AP) members; (2) Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Asia-Pacific members; and (3) divers who had received any PADI non-leadership certification within the previous four years. Only data from divers resident in Australia were analysed.
A total of 2,275 responses were received from current Australian residents, comprising 1,119 of 4,235 (26.4%) DAN members; 350 of 2,600 (13.5%) PADI members; and 806 of 37,000 (2.2%) PADI divers. DAN and PADI members had similar diving careers (medians 14 and 15 years, respectively). PADI members had undertaken more dives (median 800) than DAN members (330) and PADI divers (28). A total of 692 respondents reported suffering from diabetes or a cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological or psychological condition and included 34% of the DAN members and 28% of each of the PADI cohorts. Eighty-four divers had been treated for decompression illness (approximately 5% of DAN and PADI member groups and 1% of the PADI divers). Eighty-seven of 1,156 (7.5%) PADI respondents reported a perceived life-threatening incident while diving.
Despite low response rates, this study indicates clear differences in the characteristics of the divers in the three cohorts. Therefore, a survey of a single cohort may represent that diving population alone and the findings may be misleading. This bias needs to be clearly understood and any survey findings interpreted accordingly.
本研究旨在比较三项澳大利亚水肺潜水员调查的结果。由于这些调查在招募方法上存在差异,预计受访者在一些重要特征上会有所不同。
对人口统计学、健康状况、潜水习惯和潜水结果进行匿名、在线横断面调查,并分发给:(1)亚洲及太平洋地区潜水员警报网络(DAN AP)成员;(2)专业潜水教练协会(PADI)亚太地区成员;(3)在过去四年内获得任何PADI非领导资格认证的潜水员。仅分析了澳大利亚常住潜水员的数据。
共收到2275名澳大利亚常住潜水员的回复,其中包括4235名DAN成员中的1119名(26.4%);2600名PADI成员中的350名(13.5%);以及37000名PADI潜水员中的806名(2.2%)。DAN和PADI成员的潜水生涯相似(中位数分别为14年和15年)。PADI成员的潜水次数(中位数800次)多于DAN成员(330次)和PADI潜水员(28次)。共有692名受访者报告患有糖尿病或心血管、呼吸、神经或心理疾病,其中包括34%的DAN成员以及PADI两个群体中各28%的成员。84名潜水员曾接受减压病治疗(约占DAN和PADI成员群体的5%,PADI潜水员的1%)。在1156名PADI受访者中,有87名(7.5%)报告在潜水时遭遇过危及生命的事件。
尽管回复率较低,但本研究表明这三个群体的潜水员特征存在明显差异。因此,对单一群体的调查可能仅代表该群体的潜水人群,其结果可能会产生误导。需要清楚地理解这种偏差,并据此对任何调查结果进行解读。