Scuba Diving: How High the Risk?
JOURNAL OF INSURANCE MEDICINE VOLUME 27, NO. 1, SUMMER 1995 SCUBA DIVING: HOW HIGH THE RISK? Nina Smith, MD Introduction growing sports. Agencies reported training as many as 300,000 new divers each year. Not all divers remain active; and even if as For most scuba divers, the excess mortality risk is fairly low. The many as 100,000 divers drop out of the sport each year, it would best estimates suggest that the risk is four deaths per 100,000 mean there are between three million and four million divers, divers. The least risk for diving accidents is in those experienced not one million or two million. If the higher numbers are more divers who are porticipating in only non-technical dives, are accurate, the incidence of injuries is closer to 0.04 percent to 0.05 reasonably fit with no serious health problems, and do not have percent. a history of being risk takers. In 1993, the ratio of deaths to accidents was 1:10.2 This means Underwriting scuba diving risk has been. a challenge for most that the best estimates available give a ratio of four deaths per insurance companies. Although there may be as many as three 100,000 divers per year. A group in New Zealand estimated a simi- million recreational divers in this country, there is limited classi- lar rate of injury? They considered 10 as the average number of cal medical research on the mortality and morbidity of diving. In dives per diver. If this number is reasonable for active US divers, addition, there is no national register to supply reliable data on the mortality risk for scuba diving is 4-5 per 1,000,000 dives.
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