141st APHA Annual Meeting

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275878
Epidemiology of unintentional drowning incidents of visitors at lake mead national recreation area, 2000-2010

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 1:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Howard Gordon, EdD, MPH , Department of Teaching and Learning, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Michelle Chino, PhD , School of Community Health Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Mary Hinson , Risk Management and Law Enforcement, Lake Mead National Recreation Area/National Park Service, Boulder City, NV
The purpose of this cross-sectional design study was to develop baseline data on trends and distribution of unintentional drowning incidents and risk factors contributing to fatalities during 2000-2010, at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The three"Es" injury prevention conceptual model served as the framework for this study. The data collected were based on date of incident, time of injury, air temperature, gender, age, race/ethnicity, place of residence, predeath recreational activities. Geographic Information System(GIS) was used to plot drowning incidents that occurred at Lake Mead National Recreation Area during 2000-2010. Descriptive statistics were used to organize, describe, summarize, and simplify the data. Correlational analyses were used to describe the sample only, rather than infer, since sample was not a probability sample of a larger population. The results revealed that male visitors were victims of 86% of the fatalities during 2000-2010 at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Most of the drowning incidents occurred among visitors between 25-44 years old. The relationship between unintentional drowning and usage of personal flotation device was statistically significant (r=-.376,p<0.001). In addition, the relationship between age and alcohol use was statistically significant (r=.196,p<0.05). The study recommended several priorities for prevention and planning. The results from this study should be used to inform the development of hypotheses for case control studies designed to establish risk factors for drowning.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Occupational health and safety
Program planning
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe which visitors are more likely to be victims of water-related fatalities at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Discuss the relationship between unintentional drowning and selected variables (alcohol, age, weather, usage of life vests).

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the lead investigator of this project, and a professor in the field of Public Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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