Perfil epidemiológico dos casos de afogamento nas principais praias de São Luís - MA entre o período de 2019 e 2022

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify the epidemiological profile of drowning cases involving people frequenting the main beaches of São Luís attended by the Military Fire Department of Maranhão and the Municipal Guard of São Luís. The information was collected from the service books of both agencies. Data was also collected from the Legal Medical Institute of Maranhão and the Integrated Center of Public Safety Operations of the State of Maranhão for the purpose of capturing data from occurrences of the same nature that were not accounted for in the first agencies. Data were captured from the year 2019 to 2022, first semester. Two analyses were performed due to the disparity of variables contained in the source sites, one of the profile related to each source and another considering the variables common to all of them. The predominant profile of the people who figured most as victims in drowning cases, with and without death, were males inserted in the age range of sixteen to twenty-five years. The beaches of Calhau, Olho d'água, and Araçagi were the scenario where the most frequent cases occurred, on Sunday days, between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM. At these times, it is suggested that bathers have a decreased capacity to evaluate dangerous situations due to the use of alcohol or other substances that alter this capacity. These pictures are similar to several studies in Brazil related to the subject and reinforce the justification that this happens because of the greater exposure of males to risks, due to the greater flow of people in the water at the end of the tour, the reduced perception of risks related to individuals with less access to education and the lower possibility of access to other forms of leisure