Research on Drowning Prevention

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Topic Description

Post Date: September 11, 2025

Expiration Date: August 29, 2026

Background

Drowning is a leading cause of child death and a glaring child health issue. Drowning is the number one cause of death among children ages 1-4 years in the United States (US) and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among 5–14-year-olds. Morbidity from drowning is high. More than 50% of US drowning victims who receive emergency department care require hospitalization or higher-level care. When drowning victims survive, they can suffer severe organ damage, including long-term chronic disease due to neurologic impairment and disability.

Drowning rates vary by a multitude of individual and contextual factors. Underlying medical conditions, such as seizures and autism, increase drowning risk; and swimming can trigger cardiac arrythmias in children with underlying cardiac conditions.  Behaviors can affect drowning risk, including temporary lapses in adult supervision for younger children, and use of alcohol in near or in the water. 

Access to and type of water sources is also associated with drowning risk, whether it is bathtubs, swimming pools, or natural water sources.  Finally, an estimated 75% of deaths associated with flood disasters are attributable to drowning.

Purpose

This topic demonstrates the NIH’s continued interest in transformative research to address the drowning burden. Four overarching domains are prioritized to further understand and address drowning rates, encourage discovery of evidence-based interventions and scale implementation science which overcomes gaps in drowning prevention and decreases harmful outcomes. 

  • Domain 1: Understanding drowning trends and developing drowning interventions to address these trends.
  • Domain 2: Studying the effects of swim instruction and components of water competency to prevent drowning.
  • Domain 3: The adoption, integration and sustainable scale-up of the drowning chain of survival.
  • Domain 4: Overcoming gaps in access to and capacity of drowning evidence-based prevention interventions.

Central Scientific Contact:
Cinnamon A. Dixon, DO, MPH
[email protected]

Participating ICOs

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

NICHD seeks research on topics such as:

  • Studies to understand drowning risk trends and factors
  • Research to develop and evaluate culturally appropriate drowning interventions
  • Discovery of validated measures to assess effect on swim skills and water competency
  • Metric development and testing to identify effective, quality swim instruction
  • Trials evaluating swim instruction techniques and timing, swim skills, and associated effects on drowning prevention and outcomes
  • Analysis of school-based or other community strategies to integrate swim instruction, water competency and the drowning chain of survival
  • Dissemination research to improve reach of evidence-based drowning interventions
  • Implementation science to improve uptake of drowning prevention recommendations and interventions
  • Community-engaged research to determine effective and sustainable drowning prevention approaches across settings
  • Evaluation of policy, standards and costs for drowning risk, interventions and outcomes
ICO Scientific Contact:
Cinnamon Dixon, DO, MPH
[email protected]

Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)

For this topic, ODP has a specific interest in interventions to prevent drowning, particularly in populations with disproportionately high drowning mortality rates.

This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers listed in this topic.

ICO Scientific Contact:
Anna Kharmats
[email protected]

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