Children and diving: medical aspects. Eight years’ sports medical follow-up of the first scuba diving club for children in Belgium.

Abstract

Evaluation of prospective paediatric divers has been based largely on opinion, with limited data. Two hundred and thirty four children aged six to 13 years wishing to scuba dive were enrolled in a prospective study of diving medical evaluation between 1985 and 1992. Medical evaluations, including pulmonary function testing, and resting and exercise ECGs were performed annually by one physician. An electroencephalogram (EEG) was performed as part of the initial examination. Twenty-nine children (12.4%) were excluded: 12 (5.1%) did not complete the initial medical assessment, 12 (5.1%) had abnormal EEG patterns, four (1.7%) were asthmatic and one had sickle cell anaemia. In the remaining 205 children, Eustachian tube dysfunction (12.2%), wax build-up in the external ear canal (5.4%) and otitis externa (3.9%) were the commonest problems during the pool training. All these incidents were minor. Five accidents (2.4% of qualified divers) occurred during the swimming pool sessions, all with full recovery. Four of these were tympanic membrane perforations, two in the same child, and all during the first year of the programme. One potentially life-threatening accident was a breathhold hypoxic syncope in a twelve-year-old. No incidents or accidents occurred during the 2216 open water dives completed in the study. The average follow-up was five years. No subsequent developmental problems, with special focus on growth, pubertal development and hearing, were seen. This study provides evidence that scuba diving may be successfully and safely undertaken in the eight- to 14-year age group provided it is undertaken in a tightly controlled environment. (Vandenhoven G, Collard F, Schamp E. Children and diving: medical aspects. Eight years’ sports medical follow-up of the first scuba diving club for children in Belgium. SPUMS J 2003; 33: 70-73)