Home drowning among preschool age Mexican children.

OBJECTIVES To estimate the risk of drowning by different bodies of water in and near the home for children aged 1 to 4 years. SETTING The Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, Mexico. METHODS A population case-control study. Cases (n=33) were children 1 to 4 years old who drowned at their home; controls (n=200) were a random sample of the general population. RESULTS The risk of drowning for children whose parents reported having a water well at home was almost seven times that of children in homes without a water well (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=6.8, 95% confidence interval (CI)=2.2 to 20.5). Risk ratio estimates for other bodies of water were: swimming pools (OR=5.8, 95% CI=0.9 to 37.5), water barrel (OR=2.4, 95% CI=1.0 to 5.6), underground cistern (OR=2.1, 95% CI=0.8 to 5.2), and a basin front (courtyard pool to store water) of 35 or more litres (OR=1.8, 95% CI=0.8 to 4.4). CONCLUSION Drowning at home is frequent in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, but the causes are different from those reported in developed countries. Accordingly, the preventive strategies must also be different.