Location Is An Important Factor Influencing Drowning Survival

The location where a person is drowning plays an important role in determining his or her survival chances, a study finds

After studying a previous data sample, researchers from St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto found that where a person is drowning plays a significant role in determining whether the victim will survive or not.

"Ontarians from rural areas are almost three times more likely to die of drowning than urban residents," said Dr. Stephen Hwang of the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto in a press statement.

One of the reasons for this could be because rural residents have easier access to open water and less access to swimming lessons. A previous study found that three in every four cases of drowning take place in open waters and in public. Only very few such unfortunate incidents ever have an eye witness.

"Even though most occur in public, four out of five drowning cases happen without a witness," said Jason Buick, lead author and a University of Toronto graduate student doing a research project with Rescu at St. Michael's Hospital. "Canadians aren't using good judgment when it comes to water safety."

Researchers also noted that drowning victims are more likely to receive bystander CPR that any other cardiac arrest incidents. Despite this, the survival chances of a drowning victim that receives bystander CPR is just as low as those of a cardiac patient that receives the same bystander CPR. This survival chance for both types of victims currently stands at only 5 percent, emphasizing on the need to do more to increase this rate.

"We can improve survival by emphasizing the importance of providing CPR and by teaching more people to perform it," said Buick, who is also a paramedic.

Drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, and the highest rates are among children. The number of drowning incidents has risen since 2004 and according to the Lifesaving Society of Canada around 400 to 500 people per country die from drowning every year.

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