Background : Drowning is a serious and potentially fatal event. Our study aims to describe the epidemiological and
clinical characteristics, and to evaluate the management of pre-hospital drowning.
Methods : A retrospective study over a period of one year in an Emergency Medical Assistance Center. Data were
recorded from the medical regulation and intervention files. The demographic characteristics, the circumstances of
occurrence, the drowning stage (Stage I: aqua stress; Stage II: minor hypoxia; Stage III: major hypoxia; Stage IV:
anoxia: cardiopulmonary arrest) , the pre-hospital care and the fate of the patients were collected.
Results : were included 50 patients. The population was mainly made of young adults (28 to 48 years) with a
higher rate of men (sex ratio at 1.77). The intervention took place in a public area in 66% of the cases. The stage
of drowning was stage IV (cardiopulmonary arrest) in 46% of the cases, for 91.3% of them the cardiac massage had
already started, with an average duration of NO FLO W of 11.35mn. Patients recovered in 26.6% of the cases. Three
of them presented hemodynamic instability after recovery. For the patients who were transported, the most frequent
destination was an intensive care unit in 51.8% of the cases, followed by emergencies in 44.4%.
Conclusion : Drowning in or country is frequently severe and requires specialized care by trained teams. The affected
population is predominantly young male adults. The management of drowning in our advanced pre-hospital care
team is globally satisfyingwith the exception of a few deficiencies like the fact that the resuscitation started with chest
compressions, which we will make sure to correct in the future. Because of the risk of death and heavy neurological
sequelae, the emphasis must be put on the prevention of these accidents.