Determinants of Native American Drowning Rates

Marina Gorsuch
Samuel Myers Jr, University of Minnesota
Yufeng Lai, University of Minnesota

Among people under 30 years old, drowning is one of the leading causes of death from unintentional injury. There are also striking racial disparities in drowning; in 1999 to 2010, the African American drowning rate was 1.4 times the white drowning rate and the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) drowning rate was 2 times the white drowning rate. The AI/AN rate is higher than both the African American and Latino drowning rate, but there is an alarming lack of research on AI/AN drowning. Of particular concern, while the overall drowning rate has declined nationally, in the last five years the female AI/AN drowning rate has spiked. In this project, we first seek to accurately describe the geographic patterns of AI/AN drowning rates. We then will identify what policies, practices, economic changes, and geographic factors are associated with the AI/AN drowning disparity, particularly the recent increase in AI/AN women who have drowned.

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 Presented in Session 76. Flash Session: Unpacking Associations Between Race/Ethnicity and Health