- For children fourteen (14) and under, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death.1
- It is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages one (1) to four (4).1
- Drownings typically occur when a child is left unattended or during a brief lapse in supervision.
What You Need to Know
- Two minutes following submersion, the child loses consciousness.
- At four to six minutes, irreversible brain damage results from a lack of oxygen.
- Most children who die are found after ten minutes.
- Nearly all children who require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) die or are left with severe brain injury.
When and Where Drownings Occur
- More than half of drownings among infants (under age 1) occur in bathtubs.1
- More than eighty-five (85) percent of drownings among children age 1-4 years are pool related.1
- Children 5-14 years most often drown in swimming pools or open water sites.1
The majority of children who drown in swimming pools were last seen in the home, had been missing from sight for less than five (5) minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time of the drowning.1
This figure represents the numbers of Indiana children killed by unintentional drownings in 1996.2
Prevention Tips
1. Never leave a child unsupervised in or around water in the home.
2. Never leave a child unsupervised in or around a swimming pool or spa.
3. Install four-sided isolation fencing, at least five (5) feet high, that completely surrounds swimming pools or spas.
4. Always wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved Personal Flotation Device (PFD) when on a boat, near open bodies of water or when participating in water sports.
5. Never dive in water less than nine (9) feet deep.
References
1. National SAFE KIDS Campaign, Washington (DC), 1998.
2. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Indiana Deaths and Rates: Unintentional Drowning, 1996. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (GA).
Related Areas
Laws and Policies
[Keywords: drowning]
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