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Bathtub-related drownings in the United States, 1979-81.

L D Budnick and D A Ross

We analyzed National Center for Health Statistics data on drownings in bathtubs and Consumer Product Safety Commission data on bathtub-related injuries for the years 1979-80 and 1979-81, respectively. Seven hundred ten persons drowned in bathtubs in 1979 and 1980, for a crude mortality rate of 1.6 per million persons per year. Although there was an excess of deaths in the spring, there was no important seasonal trend. Mortality rates in the Pacific and Mountain states were higher than in other states. Persons at the extremes of age were at greatest risk of death, with mortality rates of 5-6 per million per year. Black males aged 20-64 years had substantially elevated mortality rates compared to White males. The prevalence of personal risk indicators varied with age, with a frequent history of being left unattended among children less than 5 years old, a frequent history of seizures among persons 5-39 years old, a frequent history of alcohol or drug use among persons 40-59 years old, and frequent evidence of having fallen among those at least 60 years old. Bathtubs are potentially dangerous, and the prevention of drownings in them can be approached through a combination of passive and active strategies.

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