Limited access to supervised swimming areas during the COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the risk of drowning, according to the CDC. (Image source: kali9 via Getty Images)
A new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the annual number of drownings in the United States has increased for the first time in years.
Each year from 2020 to 2022, more than 4,500 people died from unintentional drowning, up from nearly 4,000 in 2019. The largest increase in deaths was among groups already at higher risk, including children under 4 and older adults over 65 of all races and ethnicities, as well as black people of all ages.
When analyzing data by age, drowning rates were highest among children ages 1 to 4. Drowning remains the leading cause of death in this age group. By race and ethnicity, rates were highest among blacks and Native Americans or Alaska Natives.
In a report published May 14, the researchers suggested that the recent rise in drownings may be linked to infrastructure disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, access to lifeguards, swimming lessons and supervised swimming areas has decreased while people have spent more time near or in the water, they noted.
“I’ve seen firsthand the impact of drowning: families are forced to say goodbye to loved ones too soon,” said Dr. Debra Howry, chief medical officer at the CDC. “Understanding the barriers people face in learning basic swimming and water safety skills can help us better understand how to address them, reduce drowning rates, and save lives.”
To get the new data, the researchers analyzed data from the National Vital Statistics System, which contains the most comprehensive data on U.S. deaths and their causes. In the new report, the CDC compared unintentional drowning deaths recorded in 2019, before the pandemic, with data from 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The researchers found that compared to 2019, children ages 1 to 4 faced a roughly 28% increase in drowning rates in 2021 and 2022. Adults over 65 also had a high drowning rate across all years and also experienced a significant increase compared to 2019. For example, people ages 65 to 74 were 19% more likely to drown in 2022 than in 2019, and those over 85 were nearly 50% more likely to drown in 2021 than in 2019.
The largest increase in drownings from 2019 to 2020 was among people aged 15 to 34. Based on previous data, the researchers suspect that alcohol consumption may have contributed to the increase, although the new study did not look at this specifically.
The drowning rate among Native Americans or Alaska Natives did not increase from 2020 to 2022, but they were still more likely to drown than any other race or ethnic group, previous reports have shown, the CDC notes. Black people had the second-highest drowning rate, up 28% in 2021 compared to 2019.
The CDC also assessed people's ability to swim through a nationwide survey. The agency estimated that about 40 million adults in the U.S. cannot swim, based on the fact that 15.4 percent of survey respondents said they could not. More than 50 percent of respondents said they had never taken a swimming lesson.
Social and structural barriers still limit people's access to swimming and water safety education, the CDC report says. This lack of access reflects
Sourse: www.livescience.com
