Prevention of diving-induced spinal cord injuries-preliminary results of the first Romanian mass media prophylactic educational intervention.

STUDY DESIGN: The study was an observational study of the seasonal incidence of diving accidents, according to the summer weather pattern and the influence of an educative prophylactic intervention.

OBJECTIVES: The study analyzed the preliminary results of a national project, disseminated on social networking (Facebook) and broadcasted on main national and international Romanian TV channels.

SETTING: The study was conducted at the Neurorehabilitation, Teaching Emergency Hospital 'Bagdasar-Arseni.'

METHODS: The study had a dichotomous design (a retrospective review and a prospective component), and it analyzed the evolution trends of diving accidents, before and after the prophylactic intervention. The retrospective review analyzed 41 diving accidents, registered during 2011-2015. The prospective component focused on cases registered in 2016. Spearman's Rho non-parametric test was used to evaluate the association between two variables (the air temperature and the number of diving accidents).

RESULTS: The study involved 46 males and 1 female, with a mean age (at the time of injury) 26.4±7.02 (median 25, mode 23), admitted to rehabilitation in an early post-acute status after surgical intervention. Male youths and young adults <35 years old represented 83% of all cases. During 2011-2015, a monotonic association between the summer climate and the incidence of diving-induced tetraplegia ( R =0.97468; P =0.00482) was noticed. Analyzing the evolutionary trends of similar cases registered in 2016, variables did not increase in value together ( R =0.73561; P =0.09561). In 2016, the number of diving-induced quadriplegics was reduced on average by 26.8%.

CONCLUSIONS: One year is not enough for a successful, durable educative intervention. It is compulsory to continue, extend and intensively promote this program.