RESUMO
Asphyxial death forms one of the modes of death which may be suicidal, homicidal or accidental in nature. A retrospective study of autopsies conducted between years 2006 - 2010 is an attempt to know the incidence of asphyxial deaths at district hospital, Tumkur. During this period there were 2288 deaths, out of which 438 deaths were of asphyxial deaths. The most common form of asphyxial death was hanging followed by drowning. The incidences of asphyxial deaths were more in males than females in the ratio of 1.4:1. These cases were studied to know age and sex distribution of the victims. In this study, we found that among asphyxial deaths hanging were more 268 (61.18%) followed by drowning 140 (31.96%), strangulation 19 (4.33%) and others respectively. Appropriate education, influencing the media in their portrayal of suicidal news, reporting method, involvement of young generations in encouraging activities may reduce the rate of suicidal death by hanging in future.