Study of Frequency of System Involvement and Survival Period in Sudden Natural Non-Traumatic Deaths
Journal Title: Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology - Year 2017, Vol 10, Issue 3
Abstract
Background: Many cases of sudden natural non-traumatic deaths (SNND) occur in individuals without known medical diseases. Many systems, more commonly cardiovascular and respiratory, are known to be involved in such deaths. This prospective autopsy based study was decided to determine the frequency of system involvement & survival period in sudden natural non-traumatic deaths. Material and Methods: During the study period from 1st October 2010 to 31st August 2012 total 1711 consecutive medico-legal autopsies were performed by the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, S.V.N. Government Medical College, Yavatmal, of which 125 (7.3%) cases were turned out to be of SNND, which were studied to determine the frequency of system involvement & survival period. Results: Maximum i.e. 41 (32.8%) cases were related to cardiovascular system causes followed by 32 (25.6%) to respiratory system causes. 17 (13.6%) cases related to central nervous system causes, 20 (16%) were related to gastrointestinal system causes, 05 (04%) due to genitourinary system causes and 10 (08%) were of miscellaneous causes. Out of cardiovascular causes, coronary artery disease contributed for 80.4% of cases. Out of total 125 cases, 71 (56.8%) cases survived less than 6 hours, 22 (17.6%) survived between 06 to 12 hours, 23 (18.4%) survived between 12 to 18 hours and 09 (7.2%) survived between 18 to 24 hours. It is pertinent to note that the primary system involved has had direct correlation with survival period. Out of cardiovascular cases, 37 (90.2%) survived less than 6:00 hours and 17 (41.5%) survived less than 1:00 hour. The system wise difference in period of survival was found to be statistically significant in hours (2= 46.91, p= 0.00003801). Average survival period for SNND cases was 06:56±0.26 hours and lowest i.e. 02:37±0.14 hours for deaths due to cardiovascular causes. Conclusion: Cardiovascular system pathologies remain the leading cause of sudden natural non-traumatic deaths with lowest survival period in this study. The people should undergo regular medical check-ups for early detection and proper management of cardiovascular diseases. Importance of survival period is for the assessment of suddenness of death, vulnerability of system and for future planning and providing of transport facilities and emergency medical service depots to cope with immediate events prior to death.
Authors and Affiliations
R. R. Khetre
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP456059
- DOI 10.21088/ijfmp.0974.3383.10317.7
- Views 96
- Downloads 0
The Study of Awareness of Medical Ethics among the Resident Doctors of Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Introduction: The number of malpractice suits against doctors is increasing in India. The medical professionals should be knowledgeable and aware of the issues and laws that govern patient care and follow the Code of Med...
Autopsy Findings in Head Injuries from Road Traffic Accident
Introduction: Head injury is a leading public health problem causing loss of life and limb particularly among young population throughout the world and our country is not an exception to this. Now-a-days, the term “head...
Profile of Survivors of Sexual Assault in a Tertiary Hospital of North Karnataka
Society free of crime is unimaginable. The incidence of sexual assault cases as well as reporting of such cases is on the rise after the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. The present study was conducted on 35 survivors of alleg...
Evaluation of Knowledge and Attitude about Postmortem Examination Among Post Graduate Residents
Background: Forensic Medicine and Toxicology is an important subject in medical curriculum as it deals mainly with legal aspects of medical practice and postmortem examination. Aim and objective: To assess Medicolegal kn...
Study of Awareness about Cybercrime among Medical Undergraduates
World becomes more digitally sophisticated with the present technological environment. Being a part of e-world, we depend upon internet for various purposes. Earlier days, internet was used for research purpose and commu...