Drowning Deaths in North Carolina. SCHS Studies No. 42 [microform] / Michael J. Patetta.
North Carolina, with a large number of major rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, and 320 miles of ocean shoreline, has a comparatively high drowning rate. A study was conducted to examine drowning deaths that occurred in North Carolina between 1980 and 1984. Data were obtained from the Office of the Chie...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
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1986.
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| Summary: | North Carolina, with a large number of major rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, and 320 miles of ocean shoreline, has a comparatively high drowning rate. A study was conducted to examine drowning deaths that occurred in North Carolina between 1980 and 1984. Data were obtained from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Data from Drowning Abstract Forms and selected items from the Medical Examiner computer file, such as the decedent's blood alcohol percent, were summarized to form descriptive statistics on all the drownings. Cross tabulations were generated to see how certain characteristics varied by activity of decedent and setting of drowning. A total of 1,052 drownings were abstracted, with males accounting for 87% of the drownings. Nonwhite males had the highest drowning rates across all age groups; the drowning rate was higher for nonwhites than for whites, and higher for males than for females. An examination of activities revealed that, while most drownings occurred during swimming, there was a large number of nonswimming drownings. Of the 839 drowning victims who were tested for blood alcohol, 34% were legally intoxicated. Findings from the study suggest that some of these drowning were preventable, including those where the victim was swimming alone, those involving boats, those where the victim was in the 0-5 age group, and those in which alcohol was involved. (NB) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED284084. |
| Physical Description: | 13 pages. |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
| Action Note: | committed to retain |