Objective: To describe the epidemiology of drowning in New Zealand for the period 1980-94.
Methods: Drowning-related incidents were identified by linking New Zealand Health Information Service and Water Safety New Zealand databases.
Results: 2,606 drowning-related incidents were identified. In three-quarters of the incidents, drowning was listed as the immediate cause of death. The majority of drownings were unintentional (85%), involved males (76%), and 0-4 and 15-24 year age groups had the highest rates. Boating was the leading cause of unintentional drowning (28%) followed by swimming and other water sports (19%), motor vehicle drownings (13%) and falls or slips (12%).
Conclusions and implications: Although there has been a significant decline in drownings, New Zealand compares poorly internationally. In particular, our unintentional drowning rate is twice that of Australia. For New Zealand to continue to make substantial progress in addressing its overall drowning rate, we need to continue and strengthen our efforts in priority areas, in particular those due to motor vehicle crashes and boating and among pre-schoolers, adolescents and young adults. Motor vehicle traffic crashes warrant closer attention than has been the case to date.