Undercurrent--"Why Divers Die"

[mdb]

While I don't know the exact numbers I would have to say that around here there are a lot more large overweight divers than small skinny ones. For example, when I was looking to buy a wetsuit every shop in town seemed to have multiple 3Xs and other large sizes but I had a heck of a time finding a small. While there could be a lot of reasons for this I think that it is because they get more large customers than small ones. ~Jess

JessH: I have been to every DEMA show. The large overweight diver is very well represented at every show. They waddle up and down the aisles. Several years ago the surf show and the dema show were in Orlando at the same time. The surf folks honored Dema badges; Dema in its infinite wisdom did not return the favor. I spent one afternoon at the surf show. What a contrast.

Since we manufacture dry suits we have had our Japanese friends come to several DEMA shows, local events, such as Underwater Sports Divers Fair, Seaspace, Beneath the Sea, etc. Our friends once commented-"Very hard to fit, big stomach, no A--" Not always the case but true enough.

Stay fit, dive often.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Wait though. You're making a leap that isn't so. Poor diving skills are not the only reason that people die diving, are they? Can't be.

If someone is riding a bicycle and suffers a massive coronary and dies, what sort of riding competency could they have accomplished that would have made a difference? If they swerved into oncoming traffic upon having the attack and were struck by a car, you wouldn't say that better riding skills or riding on a path would have made a difference. The two events aren't related except that participation in one may have brought on the other.

Undercurrent isn't saying that BMI > 30 divers have bad skills, or cannot perform skills as well as someone < 30 and that is why they die. They are saying that divers with a BMI > 30 may be more at risk of incidents that can be exacerbated by the circumstances involved in diving, such as overexertion, heat, fatigue, etc.

I don't think they ever said that people with BMI > 30 were any more or less competent than anyone else.

I'm certainly not saying that it's good to be over weight. Getting old is kind of hard on a person too and one thing I noticed when I had a dive shop was that a lot of our students we getting up there in years. Many had never been very active or hadn't been for a long time. It wasn't uncommon to have a student who didn't have the muscle tone to push a marshmellow across a table.

Unless you live on a beach diving takes a good deal of time and money, I don't care what the advertisements say. Many don't have much of either until later in life after sitting at a desk for many years...For some it's just about time they're getting ready to have their first heart attack. I know first hand how that goes.

So...you get a bunch of these middle aged desk jockies out there doing an activity that was once dominated by x-navy seals. LOL and what would you expect?

 

[Teamcasa]

JessH: ... The large overweight diver is very well represented at every show. They waddle up and down the aisles....

Insulting potential customers is too smart.

Dave

 

[Fordan]

I think that is one of the main reason why many obese divers dive without wetsuits. It is hard to find one that fits, and custom suits are too expensive for the recreational divers.

Possibly, although as an obese (though not morbidly obese) diver, I dove every dive on my last liveaboard except the first dive without a wetsuit. The reasons were that a) the last thing I'm looking for is more buoyancy, and b) I wasn't cold in the 74 degree water, at least with the availability of warm shower & clothes at the end of the dive.

 

[drrich2]

Most of the articles from Undercurrent can be seen at undercurrent.org but may require subscription to the online journal. Let me quote the first line here though, "Obesity has long been considered a risk factor for decompression sickness, but Divers Alert Network (DAN) also considers it a top reason for dive fatalities."

Going on to say that "45% of dead divers had a body mass index of 30 or above".

And , "Therefore, physically unfit buddies can't always be relied upon to come to the rescue in times of need."

This from Undercurrent January 2007.

1.) Unless you consider the risk that you will need a buddy's help, & your chubby buddy will be dead or dying or what-not, the last statement sounds like hyperbole.

2.) Let's assume for sake of argument that us chubby folks are over-represented in diving accidents. So what? If we had a lower risk, would the skinny people quit diving? If women have a lower accident risk rate than men, will the guys hang up their tanks? Is there some magic number (i.e.: 1 in 100,000, 1 in 1,000,000, 1 in 10,000,000) that's 'too high risk,' whereas the next category is NOT too high risk? Can anyone show where that bar is, & that fat folks are on one side & skinny folks on the other?

3.) There will always be a leading correlate with accidents, just like there'll always be a leading cause of death, and somebody claiming it's 'the leading cause' trying to scare us all, regardless of how low the numbers for the 'leading cause' actually are.

4.) This just in: 100% of people who die in scuba accidents were born. Being born is a huge risk factor. If you were born, better not dive.

Richard.

 

[GulfDiver77]

overweight people are not the only ones that have heart attacks. Look at the baseball and football players that are highschool and college kids that are having heart attacks.
True being overweight could increase risk,but there are alot of people that have unknown heart conditions that are high risk for heart attacks.

To sum up my oppinion on this is this. I feel when it's your time to go that's it.

 

[drbill]

This thread has caused me to look at a few related issues. I'm a big guy but in very good health for my age. If I'm not diving solo, I usually dive with buddies who are instructors or DM's but are smaller in size. My most recent buddy is about half my weight. Could she rescue ME if something should occur? I really don't know. I've always been concerned about whether I could rescue my buddy (since they are all people I care about), not the reverse.

 

[Diver-Sixx]

So...ummm...Arnold Schwarzenegger is obese and would be a high risk case for diving? I've said it before and I'll say it again, BMI is one of the most ludicrous measure to use in guaging a person's health. It only takes into account age, height, weight and gender. No account is given to percentage of body fat. As muscle is more dense than fat, if you take two people of the same age, sex, height and weight, but one is 20% body fat, and the other is 3% body fat, they will have the exact same BMI. Think a sumo wrestler standing next to a body builder.

I Agree, By the BMI 98% of the divers I know are obese. I`m 5`9" 210, The BMI says I am obese, That I should be 130-150, I was 140 for most of my life and let me tell you that is thin, I really dont think of myself as obese.

Panic for any reason is The #1 reason for accidents, I see it from time to time. The simple fact is some people should`nt be in the water no matter what their size,

 

[mikerault]

I'll bet 80-90 percent of those deaths were in folks over 20 years of age. Obviously being over 20 is a risk factor for diving as well...I'll bet a majority of them had one drink of alcohol within 24 hours of diving..obviously this is a risk factor as well. I'll also bet most of them drove cars...gee another risk factor!

Mike

 

[GulfDiver77]

Pilots are required to have a license. There are no diving licenses in recreational diving in the US. Pilots carry passengers and can fly through someones house. I don't carry any passengers when I dive. I did try to dive through a house once but I got hung up on the carpet.

hung up on the carpet LOL I nearly fell out of my seat on that one.