(Montreal) In Quebec, during the summer months, on average one child per day goes to the emergency room for a drowning or near-drowning, according to a new study.
The study will be officially presented in September at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgery, but the Dr Hussein Wissanji, pediatric surgeon at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (Children), says he is publishing the results now in the hope of preventing deaths this summer.
“I thought this data was too important to miss a season, a summer, because if it can help some kids preventatively, that’s really why we’re doing this research,” he said, during ‘a telephone interview.
He says the study, which he led in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec and the Coroner’s Office, covered all child deaths by drowning, emergency room visits or admissions to the hospital between 2017 and 2021. The Dr Wissanji said researchers found there were about 92 drownings or near-drownings on average in June, July and August, or about one per day.
Research has found that children ages 1 to 4 are most at risk. These children are more likely to end up in swimming pools, and particularly in those that are not properly fenced, he said. While Quebec law requires pool owners to install proper fencing, owners of older pools have until 2025 to comply, he added.
On the other hand, older children are more likely to be victims of drowning-related accidents in lakes or rivers. In any case, drowning-related hospitalizations are more likely to occur on weekends.
The Dr Wissanji said the study only extends through 2021, which is the most recent year for which complete data is available. Although he couldn’t say whether the numbers have changed since then, he said the number of drownings was relatively stable during the years studied – except for a spike in the first year of the pandemic. COVID-19 – which he called worrying.
“We are not moving in the right direction with a steady decrease in events or tragedies, I would say,” he said, adding that researchers will continue to monitor the situation to see if the numbers change after entry. pool fencing laws in force in 2025.
The Quebec Lifesaving Society says there were 83 suspected drowning deaths in the province in 2023 among people of all ages, compared to 61 in 2022 and 81 in 2021.
The unofficial tally posted on its website suggests there have been 12 fatal drownings this year as of May 24, up from 20 the year before.
The Dr Wissanji says for every fatal drowning, more than 10 children are taken to emergency rooms or hospitalized due to water-related accidents. He added that these near-drownings can sometimes have health consequences and are always traumatic.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The Dr Hussein Wissanji, pediatric surgeon
“After seeing some of these families in the emergency room, it’s probably one of the worst days of their life when they arrive in an ambulance for their child who has just been close to drowning,” he said.
He said families can reduce the risk of drowning by making sure all pools are safely fenced and making sure their children know how to swim. Most important, however, is to supervise young children near water as closely as they would near a fire.
“You don’t take your eyes off a child, even for a few seconds, because drowning can happen in less than 20 seconds, and it’s usually a silent event,” he said. It’s not like Hollywood where you hear someone screaming. »