ABSTRACT
Objective: To study frequency of patterns and manners of asphyxial deaths autopsied at LiaquatUniversity Hospital
Study Design: Retrospective study
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Office of Police Surgeon-Medico legal section, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro/Hyderabad from January 2010 to December2014
Materials and Methods: Medicolegal files of autopsy were studied retrospectively. 135 files were finalized after scrutiny of 2033 autopsies. Causes, types and patterns of asphyxia were noted. Essential data was noted in a pre-designed proforma for study purpose. Data variables were analyzed on Microsoft excel and Statistix8.1 using appropriate statistical tests. P value of
Results: One hundred and thirty five cases of asphyxial deaths [out of 2033 autopsies] were studied. Age [mean +/- SD] was noted as 49.7 +/- 8.9 years. Of 135 cases, 65.9% [n=89] were male and 34.07% [n=46] were female [X[2]=112.5 p=0.0001]. 28.1% and 8.14% of cases showed ligature and manual strangulation respectively. Hanging, drowning, traumatic asphyxia and throttling were noted in 42.21%, 12.59%, 5.18% and 3.7% respectively. Suicidal deaths in 29.6%, homicidal in 57.03% and accidental asphyxial deaths were observed in 13.33%
Conclusion: Homicidal and suicidal deaths of hanging and strangulation seemed to be the major contributing causes of asphyxial deaths