As the summer heats up and more families take to pools, lakes, and other bodies of water to cool off, reports of drowning tend to spike.
In addition to the more than 3,000 drowning deaths that happen each year, terms like “dry drowning” and “secondary drowning” continue to cling to parenting blogs, media reports, and other drowning discussions despite their misunderstanding.
Often, these terms, which aren’t recognized in medical literature, are nuanced and describe an event that isn’t a drowning, says Jean Hoffman, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, so it’s important to know the difference and what may be causing symptoms.
“We can't always prevent a lot of conditions that come into our care in medicine, but drownings and conditions that are associated with water submersion can be prevented,” says Hoffman, who also worked as a lifeguard beginning in high school and up through medical school. “It’s so important to be on the preventative side of things. Talk to your kids, watch them closely, never leave them unattended.”
Hoffman discusses what sets drowning apart from other lung injuries that may occur in a submersion event and why prevention in every case is crucial.