Information - As part of the epidemiological surveillance system for drowning incidents implemented between June 1 and September 30, Santé publique France has identified a reporting gap regarding emergency room visits for drowning in certain regions of France, which would lead to an underestimation of the total number of drowning incidents observed, as published in the previous drowning epidemiological reports dated July 7, July 21, and August 11, 2023. For this reason, this update will focus solely on accidental drownings and those of undetermined cause resulting in death at the scene of the drowning.
Please note that the indicators corresponding to drownings resulting in death collected by Snosan and the previously published analyses regarding the characteristics of drownings (by age and location) remain unaffected. As a reminder, these data are preliminary and will be consolidated in the coming weeks.

Key Points

• Between June 1 and August 20, 2023, 253 drownings resulting in death were recorded in France.

• Between 2021 and 2023, while the total number of drowning incidents resulting in death over this period has remained generally stable^1,2, the figures for 2023 show an upward ^trend3 for the first 20 days of August compared to 2021, amid weather conditions favorable for swimming.

• Fatal drownings primarily involve adults: approximately 9 out of 10 drownings. The number of drowning deaths varies by location: drowning deaths in rivers and bodies of water affected all age groups, while for other locations, drowning deaths occurred more frequently in private pools for minors and in the ocean for adults.

• These results, particularly in the current context of extreme heat across much of France, underscore the need to continue drowning prevention efforts, which must be tailored to age groups, swimming locations, and regions (particularly regarding risks associated with rip currents and coastal currents).

¹ Chi-square tests were conducted for all comparisons between the 2021, 2022, and 2023 data; the results presented are statistically significant at the 5% level.

² The 2021 data from this surveillance system are not comparable to those from the 2021 NOYADES survey conducted by Santé publique France due to a different data collection methodology.

³ The result is just above the significance threshold (p=0.08).