Does water temperature influence survival from drowning?
Paper III showed no significant differences in survival related to water temperature. One interesting finding, however, was that there was no survival after more than 15 minutes' submersion in water warmer than 15 degrees Celsius and survival after up to 40 minutes' submersion in water temperatures of less than 15 degrees.
Most drownings occur in warm water during the summer and the delay will make it difficult for the SFARS and EMS to access the drowning victim in reasonable time. This is problematic with regard to the above-mentioned findings relating to survival in relation to submersion time, as Papers I and V showed that the EMS response time was the most important factor for survival.
Cold water thus appears to be neuroprotective in some cases, but we are still in need of large observational studies in humans, well powered and adjusted for confounders to address the relationship between water temperature and survival from OHCA due to drowning. We speculate that Paper III was underpowered adequately to address the research question of how water temperature influences survival from drowning.