Drowning mortality by intent: a population-based cross-sectional study of 32 OECD countries, 2012–2014

Objective: To compare the drowning mortality rates and proportion of deaths of each intent among all drowning deaths in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in 2012–2014. Design: A population-based cross-sectional study. Setting: 32 OECD countries. Participants: Individuals in OECD countries who died from drowning. Main outcome measures: Drowning mortality rates (deaths per 100,000 population) and proportion (%) of deaths of each intent (i.e., unintentional intent, intentional self-harm, assault, undetermined intent, and all intents combined) among all drowning deaths. Results: Countries with the highest drowning mortality rates (deaths per 100,000 population) were Estonia (3.53), Japan (3.49), and Greece (2.40) for unintentional intent; Ireland (0.96), Belgium (0.96), and Korea (0.89) for intentional self-harm; Austria (0.57), Korea (0.56), and Hungary (0.44) for undetermined intent; and Japan (4.35), Estonia (3.70), and Korea (2.73) for all intents c...