GALVESTON COUNTY HEALTH DISTRICT
4C's Clinics, Public Health Programs, Galveston E.M.S.
Harlan "Mark" Guidry, MD, MPH Warren J. Holland III
Chief Executive Officer & Health Authority Chief Operating Officer
www.gchd.org
Drowning and Near-Drowning in Galveston County
Summary of Cases Reported for 1999-2003
Prepared by Galveston County Health District Epidemiology Department, April 2004
Drowning and near-drowning (submersion
Figure 1. Submersion Incidents by Year
incidents) are conditions that are required to
be reported to health departments in Texas.
A near-drowning is defined as suffocation 50
44
due to submersion that does not lead to
40 37
death within 24 hours. Galveston County
Health District (GCHD) Epidemiology 30
Department collects data on submersion 30
25
incidents occurring within the county. 19
20 19 15 16
Reports of drownings and near-drownings 16 13
come from death records, hospitals, EMS, 10
Galveston Beach Patrol and the Galveston
County Medical Examiner. Additional cases 0
are identified through newspapers and
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
investigated by the Epidemiology
Department. Drowning Near-drowning
Data for five years allow observation of
trends and some stronger conclusions than
would data for any single year. For calendar Figure 2. Submersion Incidents by Age,
years 1999-2003, GCHD received reports of 1999--2003
95 drownings and 139 near-drownings
which occurred in Galveston County (Fig. 1). 70
60
50
Ages of drowning and near-drowning victims
40 49
ranged from less than 1 to 85 (Fig. 2). 28
Teens were most likely to be victims of 30
32 11
submersion incidents although adults over 20 11
30 were more likely to drown in the event of 10 22 18 5 3
15 14
9 9 8
a submersion. Children under age 10 had a 0
total of 41 incidents, but only nine
<
10
20
30
40
50
60
drownings. More than two-thirds (72.6%) of
10
-
-
-
-
-
+
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
all submersion incident victims were males.
9
9
9
9
9
Drowning Near-drowning
Galveston County residents accounted for
Figure 3. Victim's Place of Residence,
29% of the submersion incidents (Fig. 3). Harris 1999 -- 2003
County residents accounted for almost half
(48%) of all submersion incidents. Visitors from Harris Co.
outside of Texas accounted for 13 of the
incidents (6%). Galveston Co.
Other Texas
Figure 4 shows submersion incidents by
ethnicity. Although the number of people at risk Other States
by ethnicity is unknown, it seems that Hispanics
may be over represented among victims. 0 50 100
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
The majority of drownings and near-drownings
(51.3%) occurred while victims were Figure 4. Incidents by
swimming/wading (Fig. 5). A wide variety of Race/Ethnicity 1999 -- 2003
activities comprise the “Other” category
including 7 suicides or attempted suicides, 8 100 2003
rescue attempts, 4 bathtub incidents, 6 2002
80
automobile related incidents and 4 jet/water-
Incidents
2001
skiing accidents.. 60
2000
40 1999
Over the five-year period 126 (53.8%) of the
reported incidents occurred at beaches (Fig. 6). 20
The data appear to indicate that non-beach 0
incidents are generally more lethal than beach Asian Black Hispanic White
incidents, although it is also possible that there
is under reporting of non-beach near-drownings. Figure 5. Activity Before Incident,
27% of reported beach incidents were 1999 -- 2003
drownings compared to 56% of other incidents.
This may be due to the presence of lifeguards at
many beaches. While 21 beach incidents Other 59
occurred in guarded areas, only 1 resulted in
drowning. Of the 100 incidents that occurred at
the beach in unguarded areas, 33 (33%) Swimming 120
resulted in drownings. (Guarded/unguarded Unknown 12
status not available for 5 beach incidents.) This At Work 10
indicates that fewer submersion incidents
Fishing 13
happen in guarded areas, and those
submersion incidents that do occur in guarded Boating 20
areas are less likely to result in drowning.
Trained lifeguards perform many preventive Figure 6. Location of Incident
actions such as moving swimmers from
1999 -- 2003
dangerous areas before submersion incidents
Pool 22
occur.
Figure 7 shows that beach submersion incidents
were most numerous on Sundays (38%),
Beach Bay 62
Saturdays (17.5%) and Mondays (15%). 81% of
126
all beach incidents occurred Friday through
Monday. Among 113 cases for which time of
2 Other Gulf
6
Other 18
incident was known, the peak time period for Figure 7. Be ach Subme rsions by Day of
beach incidents was from 2 to 7 PM. Numerous We e k 1999--2003
beach incidents also occurred from 11 AM until Saturday 22
2 PM, and 85% of all beach incidents occurred
between 11 AM and 9 PM, (Fig. 8).
Friday 13
Submersion incidents were most numerous Sunday 48
during the summer months of May, June and
July. Beach submersion incidents were
definitely most frequent during April-September Thursday
13
(87%) with the largest number in May (29%)
(Fig.9). Non-beach submersion incidents are Wednesday 9
more spread throughout the year, with a peak in Tuesday 2
July (Fig 10). Monday 19
Galveston beaches, the Texas City Dike, San
Luis Pass and the beaches of Bolivar Peninsula Figure 8. Beach Submersions by
are places where multiple incidents occur. East Time of Day 1999 -- 2003
and Stewart Beaches are locations where a
substantial number of submersion incidents 20
occur.
15
Information on submersion incidents can be
10
useful in planning injury prevention programs.
These data indicate that lifeguards are effective 5
and should be available as much as possible
from 11 AM to 9 PM, Fridays through Mondays 0
during April-September.
10:00
12:00
14:00
16:00
18:00
20:00
22:00
0:00
2:00
4:00
6:00
8:00
More detailed data are available in Tables 1-13.
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Figure 9. Beach Incidents by Month Figure 10. Non-Beach Incidents by
1999 -- 2003 Month 1999 -- 2003
40 20
35 2003
30 16
2002
Incidents
25
12
20 2001
15 8
10 2000
5 1999 4
0 0
January
March
May
July
December
February
June
November
September
August
October
April
April
August
February
June
January
July
March
October
November
May
September
December
3