Clinical trial NCT06322134: Drowning Incidents Treated by the Danish SAR Helicopters
Official title: Incidence and Characteristics of Drowning Patients at Sea Treated by the Royal Danish Air Force's Search And Rescue Helicopters From 2014-2023: a Nationwide Registry-based Study
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Drowning
Drown
Drowning; Anoxia
Drowning, Near
Drowning and Nonfatal Submersion
Drowning or Immersion of Unknown Intent
Drowning and Submersion, Undetermined Intent
Drowning and Submersion While in Natural Water
Drowning and Submersion Due to Sailboat Sinking
Drowning and Submersion Due to Fall Off Ship
Keywords: Drowning
Danish Drowning Formula
Royal Danish Air Force
Search And Rescue (SAR)
Emergency Medical Service (EMS)
Registry
Retrospective
Epidemiology
Danish Prehospital Drowning Data
Lead sponsor: Prehospital Center, Region Zealand
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Danish Defence
First posted: 2024-03-20
Enrollment: 247
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Drowning patients will be identified through manual validation of the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopter's records using the internationally accepted definitions of fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents.

Drowning was defined by the WHO in 2002 as "the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid".

If the incident involved submersion or immersion, but the patient did not experience respiratory impairment, the incident was categorised as a water rescue.

Brief summary: Improving oxygenation and ventilation in drowning patients early in the field is critical and may be lifesaving. This may be achieved by helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) such as the Danish Air Ambulance, or the Royal Danish Air Force's Search And Rescue (SAR) helicopters. The SAR operates in all weather conditions and is equipped with a hoist system, able to hoist patients from the sea or small ships without helipads. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of drowning missions attended by the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopter and describe patient characteristics and prehospital interventions.

Detailed description: The national Danish Drowning Cohort contains data on all fatal and non-fatal drowning patients treated by the Emergency Medical Services. However, data on drowning patients treated by the SAR helicopters is reported in a separate system.

The population of drowning patients treated by the SAR helicopters has never been described, thus contributing to the potential underreporting of the most critically ill drowning patients in Denmark. Given the rarity of drowning, registry-based studies are needed to provide patient characteristics and evaluate critical care interventions performed on this group of patients.

This study aims to identify and describe a national cohort of drowning patients at sea treated by the Royal Danish Air Force's SAR helicopters from 2014 to 2023.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients treated by the Danish SAR helicopters AND
* Drowning as defined by the WHO (the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who have not been immersed or submersed.
* Duplets.
* Interhospital transfers.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Annual incidence of drowning treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Annual incidence rate of drowning treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023
timeFrame: 1 year
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Spatial distribution of drowning patients treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023
timeFrame: The map will display all drowning incidents treated by the Danish SAR helicopters from 2014-2023.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Næstved
country: Denmark
facility: Prehospital Center
state: Region Zealand
Study officials:
affiliation: Prehospital Center, Region Zealand
name: Helle Collatz Christensen, Ass. Prof.
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References:
citation: Breindahl N, Wolthers SA, Jensen TW, Holgersen MG, Blomberg SNF, Steinmetz J, Christensen HC; Danish Cardiac Arrest Group. Danish Drowning Formula for identification of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from drowning. Am J Emerg Med. 2023 Nov;73:55-62. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2023.08.024. Epub 2023 Aug 15.
citation: Breindahl N, Wolthers SA, Moller TP, Blomberg SNF, Steinmetz J, Christensen HC; Danish Drowning Validation Group. Characteristics and critical care interventions in drowning patients treated by the Danish Air Ambulance from 2016 to 2021: a nationwide registry-based study with 30-day follow-up. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2024 Mar 6;32(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s13049-024-01189-y.