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What is Dry Drowning and What Parents Need to Know

Drowning is not a one-size-fits-all type of incident. Add these tips and informative bits to your water safety toolkit this summer.

What is Dry Drowning and What Parents Need to Know

Picture this: it's a hot summer day and your child is frolicking in a swimming pool while you lay on a lounge chair with a refreshing beverage and a good book. You have been keeping a pretty steady eye on them, looking up from your book every minute or so to make sure they're still safe and above water. You eventually see them climb the ladder to get out of the pool so you shift your full attention back to reading, that is until they begin to cough, hard.

Parents, did you know that your child can still drown even when they're no longer in water?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for 1-14 year olds in the United States. As such, it is extremely important that you keep an eye on your child while they engage in water-related activities. Equally important is that you keep an eye on them afterward if they begin to show signs and symptoms of what is commonly referred to as 'dry drowning'.

What Is Dry Drowning?

If you search up 'dry drowning' on the web, you'll likely get results telling you it's what happens when liquid is inhaled through the nose or mouth and causes spasms in the airway, which can prevent air from being able to reach the lungs.

This effect from water on your vocal cords is absolutely a real concern, but here's the kicker: dry drowning is not a real medical term.

Nkeiruka Orajiaka, emergency medicine fellow physician at Children's Health and UT Southwestern medical centre, says that there is no ICD code for dry drowning, it is actually just an effect from drowning itself. "When you have that episode where you go underwater, there are two different things that may happen," she says, "water goes down to the lungs, or you can have these spasms where it goes to the vocal cords - what we call a 'laryngospasm'."

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What Are The Signs and Symptoms of a Laryngospasm (Aka Dry Drowning)?

Your child may be experiencing a laryngospasm if they begin to exhibit any of the following signs and symptoms up to 24 hours after being in the water.

  • Coughing or choking
  • Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Fatigue or lethargy
  • High fever

Diagnostic Process and Treatment

If your child is symptomatic with anything listed above, it is strongly advised to seek medical attention as quickly as possible. Depending on the severity of their symptoms, they will likely need to run a series of tests at a hospital, including: X-rays, blood tests, and imaging tests such as an MRI or CT scan.

Doctor holding a child's hand on an exam table iStock

According to Dr. Orajiaka, non-medial terms such as dry drowning and secondary drowning - water that has gotten into and irritated the lungs which causes fluid to build up (pulmonary edema) - are both classified as non-fatal drowning so long as the individual survives.

Treatment for non-fatal drowning depends on the severity of the patient's condition, but it often requires administering oxygen via non-rebreather masks, a nasal cannula or endotracheal tube. In more serious cases, victims may require a form of resuscitation.

What Are The Factors That Can Increase The Risk of Drowning?

It is important to be aware of the factors that can make someone more prone to drowning. These factors include:

Age

Children are more susceptible to drowning as a result of being inexperienced/less experienced swimmers with limited to no water safety knowledge.

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Underlying respiratory conditions

Respiratory conditions such as asthma may put your child at a higher risk of drowning.

Engaging in water activities without proper supervision or safety measures

According to the Lifesaving Society, the most recent Canadian statistics reveal that 92% of fatal drowning victims under the age of five had either distracted or absent supervision.

What are the long-term effects of non-fatal drowning incidents?

Immediately seeking medical help can make a drowning incident non-fatal, but that doesn't mean the victim gets away unscathed. Drowning (or nearly drowning) is a very traumatic event for your body, and there are a variety of long term effects that can occur as a result. These effects include:

Brain damage due to oxygen deprivation

When someone is drowning, oxygen flow to the brain may be compromised. This unfortunately makes brain damage a relatively common consequence of near-drowning incidents, in some cases even leading to dangerous conditions such as brain hypoxia.

Respiratory complications

As drowning has a direct and often detrimental impact on the lungs, surviving victims may face respiratory complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Neurological impairments

Non-fatal drowning victims can be neurologically impacted by the incident. This can include impaired motor skills and memory and executive deficits.

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Pyschological trauma

Non-fatal drowning incidents can be as traumatic to the mind as they are to the body. The psychological trauma that surviving victims may undergo include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

How can drowning (in every way, shape and form) be prevented?

Dr. Orajiaka says the most important thing about drowning is that it can be prevented. She highlights the precautions that parents can take for their children when it comes to engaging in water activities, such as constant, undivided supervision and being within an arm's length of your child at all times.

Child in swimming attire smiling beside other children in a swimming pool iStock

Jeremy Sunderland, senior manager of franchise operations at Big Blue Swim School, says that keeping an eye on your children in the water is the most effective line of defense as drowning is a silent event. "It's not like the Hollywood movies," he says, "if you're gasping for air or if you're underwater, there is no sound."

Sunderland also lists out other strategies for general water safety and to prevent drowning of all sorts:

  • Never swim alone, no matter how confident and/or good of a swimmer you are (adults, this applies to you too!)
  • Never play or allow your children to play underwater games that involve breath holding
  • Use appropriate flotation devices such as life jackets
  • If holding a baby in the water, make sure their mouth is not near the water's surface to avoid them accidentally inhaling it
  • Enroll your children in swimming lessons (which he says has an 88% reduction in risk of drowning!)

"These are the normal water safety tips," says Sunderland, "because they get you 90% of the way there."

This article was originally published on Jun 13, 2024

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Grace is a master of journalism student at Toronto Metropolitan University. She specializes in writing on information and communication technologies but is passionate about exploring topics related to nutrition, holistic health and global social issues. Born and raised in the GTA, Grace loves spending time outdoors, in the gym, reading or with friends.

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