Presenter Profile
Dana Eyerly, MD
University of Alabama Birmingham
dreyerly@uabmc.edu
Dana Eyerly is a PGY-3 Categorical Pediatric resident at the University of Alabama Birmingham. Her undergraduate degree is a Bachelor's in Health Science from Arizona State University. She attended medical school at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She will be pursuing a career in General Pediatrics. Her passion for drowning prevention stemmed from her time in Florida, where fatal drownings in children are especially prevalent. She hopes to next study interventions that would be successful in preventing drownings in pediatric patients.
Presentations
Treading Water: Fatal Pediatric Drownings in Alabama Pre, Peri and Post COVID Stay-At-Home Orders
Dana Eyerly, MD
Alicia Webb, MD
William King, Dr. PH
Michele Nichols, MD
Kathy Monroe, MD, MSQI
Drowning is a leading cause of injury death in children ages 1-4 years. However, few studies report on the descriptive epidemiology of childhood drowning changes during the COVID epidemic. Our objective was to describe the epidemiology of state reported child drownings in the pre, peri and post COVID periods. One of our research hypotheses was that Alabama’s statewide stay-at-home order (during COVID) resulted in a significant decrease in the numbers of drownings reported compared to other years.
Death records were obtained from the Alabama Department of Public Health for drownings during the years 2016-2021, for children ages 0-17 years old in Alabama. We labeled three time periods: 2016-2019 as pre-COVID, 2020 as peri-COVID and 2021 as the post-COVID period. Numbers of drownings and other key demographics were compared between the three study periods. State reported drownings were provided as an Excel file. Basic descriptive analyses were performed using Excel and Epi Info Version 7.1, (CDC). Year to year comparisons in the numbers of drownings were evaluated statically using the Poisson test of counts. Median age differences by location of drowning were compared using the Kruskal Wallis ANOVA and Dunn’s post hoc multiple comparison tests.
There were a total of 104 drowning fatalities reported, with 84 drownings in the pre-COVID era, 6 in peri-COVID and 14 post-COVID. The peri-COVID year had significantly lower numbers of reported drownings (p=0.003) compared to all other years. Median age was found to be higher among “Open Water/ Pond” drowning victims compared to those drowning in “Bath Tub” (p<0.0001) and “Pool, Hot Tub, Spa” (p=0.001). Pre-COVID, 52% of drownings were in children ages 1-4 years old, while there were not any drownings in children ages 1-4 years peri-COVID. 60% of drownings occurred in open water for the peri-COVID era as opposed to 33% pre-COVID and 38% post-COVID.
Pre-COVID, pools were the setting for the most drownings in children ages 0-17 years old in the state of Alabama. We theorize that social gathering restrictions peri-COIVD led to less pool parties at homes and the closing of public pools, decreasing potential drowning settings. Rate of drownings began increasing again in the post-COVID era, likely due to the openings of public pools and social gatherings. It is unusual that the drownings of children ages 1-4 years were so significant pre-COVID, but much less of a statement in the other two periods. This again may be because the closure of pools and less social gatherings around pools, reducing the number of toddlers who cannot swim around water.
1) Recognize that there were significant changes in the rate of fatal drownings for children during COVID
2) Compare the differences in drowning demographics, such as race, age, gender, location among the three COVID eras studied
3) Understand how stay-at-home may have played a role in drowning rates during COVID