El Sibai R, et al. - Patients presenting with submersion injuries to United States Emergency Departments (EDs) were characterized and predictors of poor outcomes (death or long term neurologic deficits) after drowning were identified. In the United States, submersion continued to be a high impact emergency condition. Significant positive predictors of poor outcomes were: male gender; presence of chronic conditions involving infectious and parasitic disease, the circulatory system, the respiratory system or the digestive system; associated motor vehicle traffic injury and self-payers. Researchers highlighted the necessity for prevention efforts targeting susceptible population to reduce the impact of submersion injuries on different communities in the United States.

Methods

• Researchers performed a retrospective cross-sectional study that included ED visits for submersion injuries from the United States 2013 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) dataset using discharge data (CCS diagnosis codes).
• They conducted a descriptive analysis for the collected variables and performed a multivariate regression analysis thereafter to identify predictors of poor outcomes (mortality and morbidity).

Results

• In 2013, 12,529 weighted patients presented to EDs for submersion injury yielding a rate of 9.29 per 100,000 ED visits.
• Researchers noticed that patients were more frequently males (65.8%, 95%CI: 64.0–67.6) and in the 19–65 years age group (41.8%, 95%CI: 40.0–43.6).
• In 11.7% (95%CI: 10.5–13.0) of patients, poor outcomes were observed.
• For poor outcomes, significant positive predictors were: male gender (OR = 1.761, 95%CI: 1.247–2.487); presence of chronic conditions involving infectious and parasitic disease (OR = 2.824, 95%CI: 1.155–6.908), the circulatory system (OR = 12.818, 95%CI: 8.953–18.351), the respiratory system (OR = 1.498, 95%CI: 1.079–2.079) or the digestive system (OR = 2.006, 95%CI: 1.106–3.636); associated motor vehicle traffic injury (OR = 5.221, 95%CI: 1.563–17.441) and self-payers.