Investigation of the demographics of drowning incidents

Drowning is suffocation and death resulting from filling of the lungs with water or other substance. Many drowning accidents occur in summer. These drowning accidents mostly occur in sea, lake, river, dam lake, bath tube and pool. The aim of the study was to investigation of the demographics of drowning victims in Turkey. This study investigated the drowning cases according to months, years, gender, water source, drowning reason, drowning region by using retrospectif analysis. The sample consisted of drowning cases between 1999-2009 in Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Elazığ, İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin, Muğla, Ordu, Rize, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Van, Yalova ve Zonguldak regions (female 9.9%, male 79.6%). Results of the study demonstrated that percentages of male drowning cases were higher (%79.6) and the majority was in the groups aged 21-30. Moreover, drowning rate was higher in September, August, June, and May. River and sea were the water sources that the most drowning cases occur.Keywords: Drowning, Boat accidents.