Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among children in the United States. Children under the age of five years are at particularly increased risk with drowning rates peaking among 1-2 year olds. While some preventive strategies, such as pool fencing, are known to be effective, the impact of other preventive strategies is unclear. For example, data regarding the relationship between swimming lessons or swimming ability and the risk of drowning are lacking, making it difficult to formulate guidelines and policies about enrollment of young children in swimming lessons. Information about risk and protective factors for childhood drownings will provide valuable guidance for the design of future interventions to prevent these tragic deaths. This study utilizes a case-control design to evaluate the relationship between swimming lessons, swimming ability, and other risk or protective factors on the one hand, and the risk of drowning on the other. The primary study hypothesis addresses the relationship between swimming lessons and the risk of drowning among children ages 1 to 4 years, while secondary hypotheses address risk and protective factors for drowning among older children. Parents or guardians of drowning victims and parents/guardians of age-matched controls will be interviewed. A short interview will also be conducted with adolescent controls, aged 14-19 years. Interviews include questions regarding exposure to water, swimming ability, participation in swimming lessons, and a number of other factors that might influence the risk of drowning. A request for proposals was issued in October of 2001 to identify a contractor to perform this data collection. A contract was awarded in April of 2002. Data collection is expected to begin in January of 2003.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01HD008743-01
Application #
6664195
Study Section
Epidemiology and Biometry Training Committee (EB)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
U.S. National Inst/Child Hlth/Human Dev
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
Taneja, Gitanjali S; Brenner, Ruth A; Klinger, Ron et al. (2007) Participation of next of kin in research following sudden, unexpected death of a child. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 161:453-6
Brenner, Ruth A; Saluja, Gitanjali; Smith, Gordon S (2003) Swimming lessons, swimming ability, and the risk of drowning. Inj Control Saf Promot 10:211-6
Brenner, Ruth A (2003) Prevention of drowning in infants, children, and adolescents. Pediatrics 112:440-5
Brenner, Ruth A (2002) Childhood drowning is a global concern. BMJ 324:1049-50