Drowning in the elderly in Paraíba-Brazil

Abstract

Drowning is a global problem, and is among the main causes of death in the world, and the elderly are part of this new reality as a special group who also suffer submersion accidents. The aim of this study was to analyze deaths due to drowning in the elderly in the state of Paraíba from 2005 to 2015. This is a retrospective, descriptive study associated with spatial analysis of regions with a higher incidence of drowning in people aged 60 years or older in the state of Paraíba. Data were collected from the IML (Gemol and Numol) records from 2005 to 2015, totaling 80 cases of drowning. Sociodemographic characteristics such as age group, gender, spatiality and local description of the occurrence (rivers, dams, sea, waterfall, cacimbas, dams and domestic environments), care provider, file of the Legal Medical Institute of the Scientific Police, international code of diseases – ICD 10 (code W74), shift of occurrence. As results we located the region of Mari sector of the wild region of Paraíba – Açude Olho D’agua (Latitude 7.11º S and Longitude 35.2º ), was the place with the highest number of drownings, where dams/lakes (55%), male (91%), married (46%), aged between 60 and 69 years (60%), the local population made the first care (41%), 14h was of higher occurrence (11%), and on Sundays (29%). We can conclude that drowning occurs in several aquatic scenarios, and in this study occurred in fresh water, several factors were associated with drowning in the elderly, such as cognition deficits, polypharmaceuticals and physical limitations, such outcomes can help encourage protection policies for this group as well as family members guide in freshwater regions and accentuate care.