Divers treated in Townsville, Australia: worse symptoms lead to poorer outcomes.

Abstract

Introduction: Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) is considered definitive treatment for decompression illness. Delay to HBOT may be due to dive site remoteness and limited facility availability. Review of cases may help identify factors contributing to clinical outcomes.

Methods: Injured divers treated in Townsville from November 2003 through December 2018 were identified. Information on demographics, initial disease severity, time to symptom onset post-dive, time to pre-HBOT oxygen therapy (in-water recompression or normobaric), time to HBOT, and clinical outcome was reviewed. Data were reported as median (interquartile range [IQR]) with Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests used to evaluate group differences. Significance was accepted at P < 0.05.

Results: A total of 306 divers (184 males, 122 females) were included with a median age of 29 (IQR 24, 35) years. Most divers had mild initial disease severity (n = 216, 70%). Time to symptom onset was 60 (10, 360) min, time to pre-HBOT oxygen therapy was 4:00 (00:30, 24:27) h:min, and time to start of HBOT was 38:51 (22:11, 69:15) h:min. Most divers (93%) had a good (no residual or minor residual symptoms) outcome and no treated diver died. Higher initial disease severity was significantly associated with shorter times to symptom onset, oxygen therapy, and HBOT, and with worse outcomes. The paucity of cases receiving HBOT with minimal delay precluded meaningful evaluation of the effect of delay to HBOT.

Conclusions: Most divers had mild initial disease severity and a good outcome. Higher initial disease severity accelerated the speed of care obtained and was the only factor associated with poorer outcome.