| Title: |
Prehospital factors associated with ICU admission in drowning patients: a retrospective multicenter cohort study in a French coastal region |
| Authors: |
Mathais, Quentin; Jurain, Luc; Sebai, Annas; Mattei, Pascal; Jammes, Didier; Kaidomar, Michel; Kleiner, Gilles; Rammal, Fadi; Marquer, Bruno; Bertrand, Pierre-Marie; Belloni, Axel; Benner, Patrick; Meaudre, Eric; Vergne, Muriel; Chelly, Jonathan; Boutin, Celia |
| Contributors: |
Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Sainte Anne; Service de Santé des Armées; Centre Hospitalier Henri Duffaut Avignon (CH Avignon); Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Toulon La Seyne-sur-Mer; Centre Hospitalier d’Hyères; Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal Fréjus - St Raphaël (CHI Fréjus - St Raphaël); Centre Hospitalier de la Dracénie Draguignan; Centre Hospitalier d'Aix en Provence Aix-en-Provence (CHIAP); Anthropologie bio-culturelle, Droit, Ethique et Santé (ADES); Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Établissement Français du Sang Alpes-Méditerranée (EFS Alpes-Méditerranée); Établissement Français du Sang La Plaine Saint-Denis (EFS)-Établissement Français du Sang La Plaine Saint-Denis (EFS); Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA); Polyclinique Les Fleurs - ELSAN (PLF); Centre d'études et de recherche sur les services de santé et la qualité de vie (CEReSS); Aix Marseille Université (AMU) |
| Source: |
ISSN: 1471-227X ; BMC Emergency Medicine ; https://hal.science/hal-05510144 ; BMC Emergency Medicine, 2026, 26, pp.54. ⟨10.1186/s12873-026-01481-3⟩. |
| Publisher Information: |
CCSD; BioMed Central |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
HAL Université Côte d'Azur |
| Subject Terms: |
Drowning; Emergency medical services; Intensive care units; Prehospital care; Hospitalization; Risk factors; [SDV.MHEP.PSR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Pulmonology and respiratory tract; [SDV.SPEE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Santé publique et épidémiologie |
| Description: |
International audience ; Background: Despite its prevalence, limited data describe the European prehospital management of drowning victims outside cardiac arrest situations, and clinical decision-making remains heterogeneous across EMS systems. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics, prehospital management, and outcomes of drowning patients, and to identify prehospital factors associated with intensive care unit (ICU) admission.Methods: We performed a retrospective multicenter study including all consecutive adult managed by the emergency medical service (EMS) call-center of the Var department (SAMU 83, France) with a “drowning” code between January 2019 and October 2022. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify prehospital factors associated with ICU admission.Results: Among 296 included patients, 232 patients (78.3%) were admitted to hospital, including 130 (43.9%) to the ICU. Thirty-eight patients (12.8%) were discharge alive without admission, and 26 (8.8%) died during prehospital management. During hospital stay, 185/232 (79.7%) required respiratory support, including 51/185 (27.6%) with mechanical ventilation. Independent factors associated with ICU admission were initial impaired consciousness (OR = 4.4; 95%CI [1.3–15.3]; p = 0.02), Szpilman grade ≥ 3 (OR = 29.9; 95%CI [11.0–80.9]; p < 0.001), and immersion duration ≥ 1 min (OR = 9.0; 95%CI [2.5–32.2]; p < 0.001).Conclusions: Several prehospital clinical variables were associated with ICU admission in this retrospective cohort. These findings may inform EMS triage decisions, although prospective validation is required |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1186/s12873-026-01481-3 |
| Availability: |
https://hal.science/hal-05510144; https://hal.science/hal-05510144v1/document; https://hal.science/hal-05510144v1/file/s12873-026-01481-3.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-026-01481-3 |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.F339B854 |
| Database: |
BASE |