Drowning Incidents Treated by the Danish SAR Helicopters

NCT06322134 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: DROWN_SAR
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 247
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Improving oxygenation and ventilation in drowning patients early in the field is critical and may be lifesaving. This may be achieved by helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) such as the Danish Air Ambulance, or the Royal Danish Air Force's Search And Rescue (SAR) helicopters. The SAR operates in all weather conditions and is equipped with a hoist system, able to hoist patients from the sea or small ships without helipads. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of drowning missions attended by the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopter and describe patient characteristics and prehospital interventions.

Conditions

Drowning; Drown; Drowning; Anoxia; Drowning, Near; Drowning and Nonfatal Submersion; Drowning or Immersion of Unknown Intent; Drowning and Submersion, Undetermined Intent; Drowning and Submersion While in Natural Water; Drowning and Submersion Due to Sailboat Sinking; Drowning and Submersion Due to Fall Off Ship

Keywords

Drowning; Danish Drowning Formula; Royal Danish Air Force; Search And Rescue (SAR); Emergency Medical Service (EMS); Registry; Retrospective; Epidemiology; Danish Prehospital Drowning Data

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Annual incidence of drowning treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023

  The incidence will be reported as the annual number of cases.

  1 year

• Annual incidence rate of drowning treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023

  The incidence rate as the annual number of cases per 100,000 person-years.

  1 year

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Spatial distribution of drowning patients treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023

  The map will display all drowning incidents treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023.

Study Arms (2)

Fatal drowning

Prehospital mortality following a drowning incident, defined as a dichotomous variable (dead or alive) evaluated at case termination. Patients admitted to the hospital with cardiac arrest were considered fatal drowning incidents in this study.

Other: Drowning incident

Non-fatal drowning

Drowning incidents where the patient had spontaneous circulation at hospital admission.

Other: Drowning incident

Interventions

Drowning incident OTHER

Patients categorized as drowning have been experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid and needing rescue by the Royal Danish Air Force's Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters.

Fatal drowning; Non-fatal drowning

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Drowning patients will be identified through manual validation of the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopter's records using the internationally accepted definitions of fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents. Drowning was defined by the WHO in 2002 as "the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid". If the incident involved submersion or immersion, but the patient did not experience respiratory impairment, the incident was categorised as a water rescue.

You may qualify if:

• Patients treated by the Danish SAR helicopters AND
• Drowning as defined by the WHO (the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid)

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who have not been immersed or submersed.
• Duplets.
• Interhospital transfers.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Prehospital Center, Region Zealand: lead
• Danish Defence: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Prehospital Center

Næstved, Region Sjælland, 4700, Denmark

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Breindahl N, Wolthers SA, Jensen TW, Holgersen MG, Blomberg SNF, Steinmetz J, Christensen HC; Danish Cardiac Arrest Group. Danish Drowning Formula for identification of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from drowning. Am J Emerg Med. 2023 Nov;73:55-62. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2023.08.024. Epub 2023 Aug 15.

  PMID: 37619443 BACKGROUND

• Breindahl N, Wolthers SA, Moller TP, Blomberg SNF, Steinmetz J, Christensen HC; Danish Drowning Validation Group. Characteristics and critical care interventions in drowning patients treated by the Danish Air Ambulance from 2016 to 2021: a nationwide registry-based study with 30-day follow-up. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2024 Mar 6;32(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s13049-024-01189-y.

  PMID: 38448994 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Drowning; Hypoxia; Near Drowning

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Death; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Wounds and Injuries; Signs and Symptoms, Respiratory; Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Helle Collatz Christensen, Ass. Prof.

  Prehospital Center, Region Zealand

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 7, 2024
• First Posted: March 20, 2024
• Study Start: January 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: January 31, 2024
• Study Completion: October 31, 2024
• Last Updated: December 4, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

DK (1)