Divers can be cocky and cranky, refusing to admit
they're getting older and should consider their medical
issues before plunging into the water. That can lead to
fatal errors. In the U.K., recent dive incident data shows
increasing dive fatalities in the 50-and-over age group,
a fair number of them due to heart attacks in the water.
On a related note, two recent studies show that 10 percent
of divers surveyed took medications for primary or
secondary prevention of heart disease.
We've written frequently about how some countries,
like Australia, are strict in requiring divers to show
proof of good health and fitness before going out with
a dive operator, while other countries, like the U.S., are
more laissez-faire about it. Marguerite St Leger Dowse,
a veteran researcher at England's Diving Diseases
Research Centre, says the U.K. falls in the latter camp,
and that "the compulsion to undergo diving medical/
self-certification is limited."
She created an online survey for divers to collect data
on diving demographics, their prescribed medications, diagnosed hypertension, other health issues and habits
when it comes to smoking, alcohol and exercise. A total
of 672 divers responded, three-quarters of them male
with a mean age of 44. Twenty-seven percent of them
had never had a dive medical, and another 11 percent
had not had one in the last 10 years. High blood pressure
was reported by 18 percent of the divers; 21 percent
of that group had never had a diving medical exam.
Patent foramen ovale (PFO), a relatively benign cardiac
defect that creates a passage in a wall between the
left and right upper chambers of the heart, increases the
risk of bends in divers. Of the respondents, 28 report
having a PFO, with 20 of them opting for a procedure to
close it. Of 83 divers treated for decompression sickness
in the past, 19 of them had a PFO.
The responses show that divers who inevitably
develop heart problems will continue to dive, but not all
of them will have a medical examination to determine
whether they're still fit to dive. Dowse speculates that
because treatment of dive-related illness is free for U.K.
residents, the lack of financial skin in the game may
contribute to divers' lack of rigorous health surveillance
or accurate self-assessment. So the attitude may be, "If
anything happens, I'm covered."