Presenter Profile
Shericka Harris, MSPH
Division of Injury Prevention
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
whf3@cdc.gov
Shericka Harris, MSPH, is a Health Scientist in the Division of Injury Prevention (DIP) at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). She works to prevent drowning deaths, with a research focus on drowning prevention in children with autism. Shericka received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Spelman College and a Master of Science in Public Health degree with a concentration in Epidemiology from the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina.
Presentations
Unintentional Drowning Deaths Among Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United States, 1999-2020
Shericka Harris, MSPH
Briana Moreland, MPH
Sarah C. Tinker, PhD, MPH
Tessa Clemens, PhD, MEd
Drowning is a leading cause of death among children worldwide, and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at an increased risk of drowning. A previous study in the United States found that, compared to deaths without ASD listed as a contributing cause, deaths with ASD listed as a contributing cause were more likely to be unintentional injuries, including specifically deaths by drowning. In Australia, children and adolescents with ASD were three times more likely to drown when compared to those without ASD. The objective of this study was to explore unintentional drowning deaths in the United States among children and adolescents where ASD was identified as a contributing cause of death.
Mortality data were obtained from the multiple cause-of-death data files in the National Vital Statistics System to identify children and adolescents (<1-19 years) with a contributing cause of death of ASD who died between 1999 and 2020. Using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10), unintentional drowning deaths were identified using underlying cause-of-death codes W65-W74, V90, and V92 and ASD was identified using the multiple cause-of-death ICD-10 code F84.0 (childhood autism).
There were 91 unintentional drowning deaths where ASD was listed as a contributing cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States from 1999-2020. Among children who drowned and had a contributing cause of death of ASD, the highest proportions were aged 5-9 years (51.6%), resided in the South (44.0%) and the Midwest (31.9%), and drowned in natural water (37.4%), bathtubs (25.3%), and swimming pools (24.2%). These results differ from the demographic and geographic characteristics in the overall population of children who drown. Among all children who drown, the highest proportions were aged 1-4 years (41.7%), resided in the South (48.9%) and West (22.6%), and drowned in swimming pools (33.2%) and natural water (32.9%).
Children 5 to 9 years of age accounted for over half of the drowning deaths with ASD listed as a contributing cause among children and adolescents. Diagnosis of ASD generally occurs after the age of 4 years which may explain a greater percentage of drowning deaths occurring after the age of 4 among children and adolescents with ASD listed as a contributing cause of death. Further research on the demographic and/or behavioral characteristics may elucidate the relationship between drowning risk and ASD. Due to limitations in death certificate data, the number of children and adolescents with ASD who fatally drowned is likely underestimated in this analysis.
1. Identify differences in drowning deaths among children with ASD as a contributing cause of death compared to drowning deaths in the overall population.
2. Describe demographic characteristics of children who drowned and had ASD listed as a contributing cause of death.
3. Recognize opportunities for improved data collection, to better understand the risk of drowning among children with ASD.