Effect of “Alerting Information When Bathing” to Prevent Bath-Related Deaths: Report from the First Year of Warning
Article ID: 2366
Details
Article ID: 2366
[Background] Sudden deaths in the bathroom (bath-related deaths) in Japan are increasing due to the aging society, but the pathophysiological mechanism responsible for this increase has not been elucidated. Thus, it is important to establish bath-related death prevention awareness. In response to this need, we investigated the efficacy of an alert for bathing safety, “Alerting information when bathing” in reducing bath-related deaths.
[Method] Statistical analyses were conducted on 1,133 cases of bath-related death that occurred during winter among inquests performed by the Kagoshima Prefectural Police between 2006 and 2019. Kagoshima Prefecture was divided by prefectural police jurisdiction, and ambient temperatures with a high frequency of bath-related deaths in each area were identified and issued as “Alerting information when bathing” through various media from November 2023 to February 2024. We compared the number of fatalities before and after issuance of the alert to determine whether the alert affected the number of bath-related deaths. In addition, we analyzed the results of a questionnaire on our website (HP) and LINE application (app) to evaluate the degree of penetration of the alert system.
[Results and Discussion] The total number of bath-related deaths did not decrease significantly after issuance of the alert, but the number and percentage of fatalities among those <60 years old decreased significantly. During the time that the alert was available, 80% of the respondents to the website survey conducted were in their <70 years old, and 76.7% of the respondents who registered as friends on the LINE app were also <70 years old.
[Conclusion] Our results suggest that alerting information can reduce bath-related deaths on a range of age groups. However, 90% of the bath-related deaths occurred among those aged ≥65 years, so future work is needed to publicize the information to those aged >70 years.
