Self-reported water and drowning risk exposure at surf beaches
- Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan , Triggs, Thomas
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health Vol. 33, no. 2 (2009), p. 180-188
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: OBJECTIVE: To document patterns of water exposure at surf beaches by gender and identify factors that predict bather confidence to return to shore if caught in a rip current. METHOD: Recreational surf beach bathers (N=406) provided self-completed data on water exposure patterns, surf activity behaviours and potential drowning risk and protective factors. RESULTS: Relative to females, males visited surf beaches more frequently, expected to spend longer in the water and in deeper water, and more often bathed after using alcohol (p<0.05). Confidence to return to shore if caught in a rip current was predicted by confidence to identify a rip current, self-rated swimming ability, gender, times visited any beach, and age in a standard linear regression model (adjusted R(2)=0.68). CONCLUSION: The study supports explanations that high male drowning rates result from more frequent exposure to water than females at high situational risk levels. IMPLICATIONS: Controlled studies are required to determine the role in drowning of overconfidence, swimming ability, surf experience, floatation .
Descriptive epidemiology of drowning deaths in a surf beach swimmer and surfer population
- Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan , Triggs, Thomas
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Injury Prevention Vol. 14, no. 1 (2008), p.62-65.
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Retrospective data extraction from two complementary mortality datasets determined the descriptive epidemiology and population rates in unintentional drowning deaths at surf beaches (n = 129). The annual average crude surf beach drowning rate was 0.28 per 100 000 population for males and 2.36 per 100 000 population for international tourists. The study generated hypotheses for risk assessment to assist intervention: adult males, international tourists, people with cardiovascular conditions, and exposure to rip currents.
Measurement of a drowning incidence rate combining direct observation of an exposed population with mortality statistics
- Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion Vol. 22, no. 3 (2015), p. 209-214
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Drowning risk factors may be identified by comparing drowning incidence rates for comparable at-risk populations but precise methods are lacking. To address this knowledge gap, an ecological study extrapolated crude time-duration exposure to water for a specified at-risk sample of surf bathers to estimate the bather population for all wave-dominated beaches in Victoria, Australia, over a four-year summer season period. An incidence rate was calculated using surf bather drowning deaths frequencies matched for time and location. For the sample, 47,341 hours of surf bathing were estimated from 177,528 bathing episodes. Generalising these results to Victoria, the crude drowning deaths incidence rate in the summer season was 0.41 per 1,000,000 person-hours of surf bathing (95% CI 0.37–0.45). Further application of the method, particularly in open water settings, may be used to identify candidate drowning risk factors to advance drowning prevention strategies.