Relevant papers identifying prevalence of fatal drowning in rivers (n=21)
| Reference | Country/area of country | Study country income level | Year(s) | Population | Data source/ICD8, 9, 10, none, unknown | Terminology | Population based (Y/N) | Number of river drowning deaths | % of river drowning deaths | Rate/100 000 population | Activity prior to drowning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brenner et al34 | USA | HIC | 1995 | Children aged <20 years | 1 (ICD9) | River, creek | Y | 235 | 17 | UTBC | Not discussed |
| Byard and Lipsett35 | Australia (South Australia) | HIC | March 1963 to February 1998 | Children <2 years of age | 3 (None) | River | N—Case Series | 3 | 9 | UTBC | Not discussed |
| Cass et al36 | Australia (New South Wales) | HIC | 1987–1990 | Children less than 15 years | 5 (None) | Rivers and creeks | N; case series | 10 | 16 | UTBC | 70% wading near shore (caught by current or lost footing) |
| Cass et al37 | Australia (New South Wales) | HIC | 1990–1995 | Children aged 0–14 years | 2 (None) | Rivers | Y | 5 | 4 | UTBC | 100% playing or swimming in the water |
| Davis et al30 | USA (New Mexico) | HIC | 1975–1980 | People aged 0–24 years | 1 (None) | Rivers | Y | 63 | 19 | 0.82* | ‘Most victims involved in activities near but not in the water’ |
| Dietz and Baker38 | USA (Maryland) | HIC | 1972 | All accidental drowning deaths | 6 (None) | Rivers or creeks | Y | 61 | 52 | 1.56* | 37.7% Boating 31.1% Swimming 24.6% Fell or stepped into deep water |
| Fang et al39 | China (Xiamen city and suburbs) | LMIC | 2001–2005 | Children aged 1–4 years | 1 (ICD9, 10) | River | Y | 7 | 10 | 0.38* | Not discussed |
| Fife et al40 | USA (New Jersey) | HIC | 1981–1985 | All immersion injuries leading to hospital admission or death | 1 (ICD9) | River | Y | 66 | 16 | 0.21* | Not discussed |
| Franklin et al41 | Australia | HIC | 1989–1992 | Unintentional fatalities occurring in the farm environment | 2, 8 (Unknown) | Rivers and creeks | Y | 15 | 22 | UTBC | Not discussed |
| Franklin et al4 | Australia | HIC | 1 Jul 2002 to 30 Jun 2007 | All unintentional fatal drowning in Australia | 2, 8 (None) | Rivers | Y | 295 | 20 | 0.29* | 20.7% Fall 20.3% Unknown 18.6% Other |
| Iqbal et al42 | Bangladesh (Matlab) | LMIC | 1985–2000 | Children aged 1–4 years | 7 (None) | Rivers | Y | 44 | 4.4 | UTBC | Not discussed |
| Kiakalayeh et al43 | Iran (Guilan and Mazandran) | LMIC | 20 Mar 2005 to 20 Mar 2006 | Resident (R) and tourists (T) | 7, 1, 4 (ICD10) | River | Y | 85 (75 R 10 T) | 25% (88.2% R 11.8% T) | 1.89† | Not discussed |
| Lunetta et al44 | Finland | HIC | 1998–2000 | All ages | 8 (ICD8, 9, 10) | River | Y | 92 | 13.1 | 0.58* | Not discussed |
| Newman et al45 | USA (five counties of Washington State) | HIC | 1987 to 1996 | Individuals > 12 months to 19 years who died of injuries sustained while involved in recreational wilderness activity | 6 (None) | River | N; case series | 15 | 37.5 | UTBC | 46.7% Swimming 33.3% Falls 20.0% Watercraft |
| Nixon et al5 | Australia (Brisbane (Queensland)) | HIC | 1967–1981 | Childhood (0–15 years) | 99 (None) | Creeks, rivers | Y | 20 | 15.0 | 0.53* | Not discussed |
| O'Hare et al46 | New Zealand | HIC | 1983–1995 | Deaths as a result of recreational river rafting | 8 (ICD9) | Rivers | N; case series | 31 | 93.9 | UTBC | 100% Watercraft |
| Patteta and Biddinger47 | USA (North Carolina) | HIC | 1980–1984 | All people | 1 (None) | River or creek | Y | 309 | 29.4 | 0.94* | Not discussed |
| Rahman et al15 | Bangladesh (rural and urban communities) | LMIC | 2003 | Children 0–17 | 4 (None) | River | Y | 96 | 5.2 | 1.42* | Not discussed |
| Riley et al48 | Australia (Tasmania) | HIC | 1981–1993 | Children <15 | 2 (None) | Rivers | Y | 7 | 20.6 | 1.01* | Not discussed |
| Tan49 | Singapore | HIC | 1992–2001 | All ages | 1 (None) | Rivers | Y | 74 | 15.1 | 0.20† | Not discussed |
| Wentworth et al50 | Canada (Brant County) | HIC | 1969–1992 | All ages | 3 (None) | River, creek | Y | 16 | 33.3 | UTBC | 37.5% Falls 18.8% Watercraft 18.8% Swimming |
Data source: 1, death certificates; 2, coronial records; 3, autopsy reports; 4, household surveys; 5, hospital medical records; 6, medical records (eg, records at the office of the chief medical examiner); 7, surveillance system; 8, country level statistics organisations (eg, Statistics Finland, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)) and New Zealand Health Information System; 99, unknown.
*Rate calculated using overall drowning rate and proportion of river drowning within overall drowning.
†Rate calculated using available population and drowning data in respective paper.
HIC, high-income country; ICD, International Classification of Disease; LMIC, low- and middle-income country; UTBC, unable to be calculated.