National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention, Michigan Public Health Institute, Okemos, Michigan.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Pediatrics. 2024 Nov 1;154(Suppl 3). doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-067043M.
Drowning is the leading cause of death during flood disasters. Little is known about these deaths. Child death review teams review details of child deaths to understand circumstances and risk factors to inform prevention.
Using data entered in 2005 to 2021 for children ages 0 to 17 years from the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System, we identified 130 drowning deaths directly attributed to natural disaster or weather incidents, and 14 deaths indirectly attributed to these incidents. Frequencies, proportions, and χ2 statistics were used to describe selected measures and compare with other drowning deaths.
Children who drowned as a direct result of a natural disaster- or weather-related incident were more likely to be aged >4 years (81% vs 40%, P < .001) and located in a rural or frontier setting (63% vs 30%, P < .001). They were more likely to be supervised at the time of the incident (61% vs 38%, P < .001), and it was more likely for additional children (35% vs 5%, P < .001) or adults (33% vs 3%, P < .001) to have perished. The indirect deaths were commonly a result of damage to protective barriers.
The characteristics of natural disaster- or weather-related drowning deaths among children differ from other drowning deaths. Natural disaster- or weather-related drowning may warrant tailored drowning prevention strategies. Improved surveillance of all water-related deaths may be a proactive action leading to the development of these prevention strategies, whereas poststorm remediation of protective barriers can be used as a reactive prevention after a storm has passed.
溺水是洪灾期间导致死亡的主要原因。人们对这些死亡事件知之甚少。儿童死亡审查团队审查儿童死亡的细节，以了解情况和风险因素，为预防提供信息。
我们使用 2005 年至 2021 年国家死亡审查-案例报告系统中 0 至 17 岁儿童的数据，确定了 130 例直接归因于自然灾害或天气事件的溺水死亡，以及 14 例间接归因于这些事件的溺水死亡。我们使用频率、比例和 χ2 统计数据来描述选定的措施，并与其他溺水死亡进行比较。
直接因自然灾害或天气相关事件溺水的儿童更可能年龄大于 4 岁（81%比 40%，P<0.001）和位于农村或边疆地区（63%比 30%，P<0.001）。他们在事件发生时更有可能受到监督（61%比 38%，P<0.001），而且更有可能有其他儿童（35%比 5%，P<0.001）或成年人（33%比 3%，P<0.001）死亡。间接死亡通常是防护屏障损坏的结果。
儿童与自然灾害或天气相关的溺水死亡特征与其他溺水死亡不同。自然灾害或天气相关的溺水可能需要有针对性的溺水预防策略。对所有与水有关的死亡进行更好的监测可能是制定这些预防策略的主动行动，而风暴过后修复防护屏障可以作为风暴过后的被动预防措施。
