Open water scuba diving accidents at Leicester: five years' experience.

Abstract

Objectives-The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, type, outcome, and possible risk factors of diving accidents in each year of a five year period presenting from one dive centre to a large teaching hospital accident and emergency (A&E) department. Methods-All patients included in this study presented to the A&E department at a local teaching hospital in close proximity to the largest inland diving centre in the UK. Our

Recompression Treatment of Red Sea Diving Accidents

“…1 The rate of postadmission mortality was below 1%, but because fatalities before reaching the hospital were excluded from the present study, the rate of fatalities in Red Sea diving accidents remains unknown. The assumptions behind the practice of omitted decompression also require scrutiny, especially if data from dive computers of the diving mates can be compared today.…”

“…1 This sharp increase in recompressionrequiring incidents has occurred despite the increase in training activity, awareness of the signs of DCS, 2,9 and the use of diving computers. This could be attributed to the increase in recreational SCUBA diving around Eilat, reflecting the growing popularity of diving as a sport, 8 but also to inadequate diving equipment and underqualified divers.…”

“…Recreational self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) diving has multiplied worldwide, as is reflected by a 260% growth in the number of divers in an inland UK diving center over a 5-year period. 1 Diving at sea, however, is not monitored, and reliable statistics that gauge the extent of this leisure activity in popular diving locations are not available. It was estimated in 1991 that more than 100,000 recreational divers travel annually from Europe to various popular destinations, including the Red Sea.…”

“…2 As a consequence of the surge in diving activity, the number of diving accidents has also increased, and a consistent rise in their incidence and the number of deaths has been recorded. 1 Diving accidents result primarily in barotrauma and decompression sickness (DCS), and the remainder are neardrowning, hypothermia, injuries caused by marine animals, and acute underwater events of cardiovascular or pulmonary nature.…”

Fatalities in recreational boating and sub-aqua diving

“…This is lower than 164 per million participants reported for North Carolina diving, USA, from 2000 to 2006 [23], but is comparable with 30 to 90 per million participants across the entire USA [24], and higher than 29 per million inland in Leicester from 1992 to 1996 [25]. Our fatality rate of 7.6 per million dives is similar to 5.7 per million in Australia from 1972 to 2006 [26], and 7.0 in the USA from 2000 to 2006 [27].…”