Treatment Reacting either too much OR too little can produce the bad effects of stress.
M.D. Dr. Chandy is Assistant Professor Of Medicine, New York Medical College. If you do not think of drowning as a major health problem, you probably do not work in an emergency room. Drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death in the United States, causing almost 8,000 deaths each year. Worldwide about 150,000 people drown annually. 1 One reason that near-drownings are difficult to count is that the term is not easy to define exactly.