Drowning is a leading cause of injury-related death in childhood. Drowning rates vary with age, gender, and race. Children under 5 and individuals between the ages of 15-24 are at highest risk for drowning. Males drown at a higher rate than females and, after the age of 5, African American males have higher rates of drowning than White males of comparable age. While only about a third of drownings among African American males between the ages of 5-19 years occur in swimming pools, African American males ages 5-9 are four times more likely to drown in swimming pools than white males of comparable age. Similarly, between the ages of 10-19 years, the rates of swimming pool drownings among African American males are over 10 times greater than those of White males. In order to better understand factors underlying the racial disparities in rates of drowning in swimming pools, we examined 678 death certificates for swimming pool drowning cases that occurred between 1995-1998 in the United States among youth ages 5-24. We extracted data on race and ethnicity, nativity, type of swimming pool, time of drowning event and other contributing factors. Frequencies, proportional distributions and rates were examined to identify variations in patterns of drowning by age, gender, race, and ethnicity. A manuscript reporting results of this study has been accepted for publication.
