Wilderness & environmental medicine
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This study assessed the utility of lifeguard rescue data for providing information on person and situation factors to inform surf bather drowning prevention research. ⋯ Although rescues are proportional to water exposure, frequencies are also influenced by situation and person factors. Bathers at relatively high risk of rescue are hypothesized to be overrepresented in amenable sea and weather conditions, and poor patient condition on rescue may be associated with exposure to a preexisting health condition.