Clinical Analysis of Early Death in Severe Drowning Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Historically, acute respiratory failure is the most common cause of death in drowning patients. However, there are an increasing number of severe drowning cases where patients die of circulatory failure or cardiovascular collapse. The aim of this study was to analyze the causes of death in severe drowning patients and evaluate the data in terms of survival curves in order to propose a treatment plan for severe drowning patients in the future. METHODS: The subjects were 58 patients that visited St. Mary's Hospital from January 2000 to September 2006 who had drowned and required CPR and mechanical ventilation. Univariate analysis was performed to evaluate factors known to be predictive of severity. Survival analysis was done to determine the degrees of correlation with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and refractory shock. RESULTS: Thirty-nine out of 58 severely drowning patients expired in all, with most deaths occurring in the early stages - 45% expired on the first day, 55% on the second day, and 60% on the third day. Cause of death analysis yielded the following results: the correlation coefficient for the existence of ARDS was 2.96 (p=0.086), which did not achieve statistical significance, but, the coefficient for refractory shock was 9.23 (p=0.002) and was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Most severe drowning patients expired in the first three days after drowning, and refractory shock was a more significant contributor to patients death than ARDS. This result underscores the need for treatment protocols that includes active management of hemodynamic instability combined with mechanical ventilatory management in the initial stages of treatment.