Abstract
The death by drowning is one of the serious problems among the elderly people, and it is the major cause of death in accidents at home. The highest mortality rate of death by drowning has been found in Fukuoka Prefecture among prefectural and city governments in Japan last decade. There were great differences in the mortality rates among the municipalities in Fukuoka Prefecture. The differences in the mortality rates among the municipalities were evaluated from a view point of living environmental factors and housing conditions. The 49 municipalities in Fukuoka Prefecture where the Housing and Land Survey was carried out in 2003 by Japanese government were divvied into 3 groups according to the mortality rates of death by drowning, 16 cities with high mortality rates, 17 cities with moderate and 16 cities with low ones, and analyzed the relations with living environment factors to the mortality rates using a multiple discriminant analysis. Significant factors were found in the tertiary industry ratio, the ratio of houses built after 1996, and the ratio of dwellings without the steps indoors. These results suggested that the mortality rates of death by drowning might be affected by the dwelling environment conditions.
