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The confusing process of drowning: Why do people who seek help sometimes fail to escape?
Drowning is a condition of suffocation caused by immersion of liquid through the mouth or nose. Such immersion injuries can include drowning and near-drowning incidents. Most fatal drownings that occur each year occur when a person is alone or in dangerous situations where others are present but fail to detect the victim. Even if victims are successfully resuscitated, they may subsequently experience difficulty breathing, confusion, or loss of consciousness. What's special is that sometimes the victim's symptoms may not appear until hours after being rescued.
Risk factors for drowning include alcohol use, drug abuse, epilepsy, inadequate or no swimming training, and lack of supervision during childhood.
Drowning can happen in a body of water, a bathtub, or a swimming pool. Drowning occurs when a person is submerged in liquid for a long enough period of time that they are unable to breathe. If you are unable to surface quickly, low oxygen and excess carbon dioxide in your blood can trigger a neurological respiratory emergency, which can cause extreme pain and, occasionally, constriction of your vocal cords.
In addition, the physical conditions after drowning are complex and varied, such as hypothermia, fluid inhalation, or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Especially among children, health problems occur in about 7.5% of the cases that survive. Therefore, steps to prevent drowning are particularly important, including teaching children and adults to swim, recognizing unsafe waters, and using personal flotation devices in adverse conditions.
Causes of DrowningA major cause of drowning is lack of swimming ability. Other factors such as water conditions, distance from solid support, physical incapacitation, or previous loss of consciousness are also key causes. When a person is submerged in water, the resulting fear can cause anxiety, which in turn leads to physical depletion and increases the likelihood of drowning.
According to statistics, about 90% of drowning accidents occur in fresh water and only 10% occur in sea water.
During New Zealand's pioneering history, many pioneers died while trying to cross the river, leading to drowning being called "Death in New Zealand". It is worth pointing out that even if the water depth is less than 30 mm, drowning may occur, and in poor conditions, the consequences of drowning may be more serious.
Risk Factors for Drowning
Many behavioral and physical factors are associated with drowning. People with epilepsy are at the highest risk of drowning in the bathtub, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Alcohol consumption also increases the risk of drowning.
Taking formal swimming lessons can significantly reduce the risk of drowning in non-swimmers.
When children are unsupervised near water, the chance of an accident increases significantly. Family or genetic history can also make an individual more susceptible to drowning in some cases, further complicating the disorder. For example, genetic testing could help identify potentially fatal heart conditions, thereby reducing the likelihood of drowning.
Diaphragmatic reflex and respiratory response
Drowning occurs in four stages, beginning with the individual holding their breath under voluntary control until the need to breathe becomes unbearable; this may then lead to swallowing or aspiration of fluids, ultimately resulting in loss of oxygen to the brain and loss of consciousness. If not intervened in time, it will cause irreversible brain damage.
If a person does not know how to swim, they may struggle on the surface of the water for 20 to 60 seconds before drowning.
During this process, the body attempts to swallow water or breathe in an attempt to cope with drowning, but may end up losing consciousness if it is unable to breathe.
Treatment and recovery after flooding
For a stationary individual who is not breathing, initial management should be to open the airway and provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It is extremely important to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on individuals who have been submerged in water for less than one hour, as such situations still allow for possible recovery.
Regardless of the water quality in which the drowning occurred, the effectiveness of administering respiratory therapy is very similar. Although the physiological responses to freshwater and saltwater drowning are different in the initial stages, the ultimate rescue strategies are similar and both require timely help.
Conclusion
There are often a large number of undiscovered potential risk factors behind drowning accidents, and these factors are difficult to detect in a short period of time. How should we increase our awareness of the dangers of drowning in our lives and effectively reduce the incidence of accidents?
