School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Beach Safety Research Group, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
PLoS One. 2021 Feb 1;16(2):e0246034. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246034. eCollection 2021.
Coastal drowning is a global public health problem which requires evidence to support safety initiatives. The growing multidisciplinary body of coastal drowning research and associated prevention countermeasures is diverse and has not been characterised as a whole. The objective of this scoping review was to identify key concepts, findings, evidence and research gaps in the coastal drowning literature to guide future research and inform prevention activities.
We conducted a scoping review to identify peer reviewed studies published before May 2020 reporting either (i) fatal unintentional coastal drowning statistics from non-boating, -disaster or -occupational aetiologies; (ii) risk factors for unintentional fatal coastal drowning; or (iii) coastal drowning prevention strategies. Systematic searches were conducted in six databases, two authors independently screened studies for inclusion and one author extracted data using a standardised data charting form developed by the study team.
Of the 146 included studies, the majority (76.7%) were from high income countries, 87 (59.6%) reported coastal drowning deaths, 61 (41.8%) reported risk factors, and 88 (60.3%) reported prevention strategies. Populations, data sources and coastal water site terminology in the studies varied widely; as did reported risk factors, which most frequently related to demographics such as gender and age. Prevention strategies were commonly based on survey data or expert opinion and primarily focused on education, lifeguards and signage. Few studies (n = 10) evaluated coastal drowning prevention strategies.
Coastal drowning is an expansive, multidisciplinary field that demands cross-sector collaborative research. Gaps to be addressed in coastal safety research include the lack of research from lower resourced settings, unclear and inconsistent terminology and reporting, and the lack of evaluation for prevention strategies. Advancing coastal drowning science will result in a stronger evidence base from which to design and implement effective countermeasures that ultimately save lives and keep people safe.
沿海溺水是一个全球性的公共卫生问题，需要证据来支持安全倡议。不断增长的多学科沿海溺水研究领域及其相关预防对策多种多样，尚未整体描述。本范围综述的目的是确定沿海溺水文献中的关键概念、发现、证据和研究空白，以指导未来的研究并为预防活动提供信息。
我们进行了范围综述，以确定截至 2020 年 5 月之前发表的同行评审研究报告，这些研究报告报告了（i）非划船、非灾难或非职业病因导致的非故意沿海溺水死亡统计数据；（ii）非故意致命沿海溺水的危险因素；或（iii）沿海溺水预防策略。在六个数据库中进行了系统搜索，两名作者独立筛选研究纳入情况，一名作者使用研究小组制定的标准数据图表表格提取数据。
在所纳入的 146 项研究中，大多数（76.7%）来自高收入国家，87 项（59.6%）报告了沿海溺水死亡，61 项（41.8%）报告了危险因素，88 项（60.3%）报告了预防策略。研究中的人群、数据来源和沿海水域地点术语差异很大；报告的危险因素也各不相同，这些危险因素最常与性别和年龄等人口统计学特征有关。预防策略通常基于调查数据或专家意见，主要侧重于教育、救生员和标志。很少有研究（n=10）评估了沿海溺水预防策略。
沿海溺水是一个广泛的多学科领域，需要跨部门合作研究。沿海安全研究中的空白包括来自资源较少地区的研究不足、术语不清且不一致、以及预防策略缺乏评估。推进沿海溺水科学研究将为设计和实施有效的对策提供更强有力的证据基础，最终挽救生命并保障人民安全。
