Future Research Questions

Abstract

The magnitude of drowning is better understood in several regions of the world and improvements in data collection have been observed. However, several barriers in data collection remain. Not all countries use the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) coding for drowning injury, and of those that do, not all report drowning to the 4th digit, thus making for large differences in the level of specification for drowning. Moreover, populations at greatest risk are often omitted from standard data collection methods in many countries. These challenges make it difficult to make international comparisons, which then make it difficult to have a full picture of the drowning burden globally. Lifesaving organizations can play a role here, especially if uniformity in data collection among them can be accomplished. The still new definition of drowning has made it possible to measure the magnitude of the drowning problem globally as never before. Adoption of the definition of drowning has continued at an encouraging pace since 2006. As in 2006, researchers are invited and encouraged strongly to use the new definition and to report the advantages and disadvantages they observe in scientific journal articles and editorials. Furthermore, including the definition of drowning in the ICD coding would be an ideal way to accomplish consistency in data collection, which should, in turn, affect treatment modalities and prevention strategies for drowning globally. Therefore, exploring the inclusion of our definition in ICD is a key priority.