Patterns of fatal scald burns in Central Delhi A retrospective study.

ABSTRACT

Thirty six unselected autopsy cases of fatal scald burn received from Central Delhi were studied during the period from July 1998 to June 2010 at Department of Forensic Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College and associated Hospitals, Delhi. The data was analyzed with regard to age, sex, place of occurrence, pattern of injury, mode of infliction, survival period, cause and manner of death. The cases represented approximately 0.31% of all autopsy received during the same period. There were 24 males (66.7%) and 12 females (33.3%) with male to female ratio 21. The age range of the victims was 10 months to 70 yrs with mean age of 16.93 years and Standard deviation of 19.32. Domestic accidents were attributed to 72.2% of all deaths. All except one case were accidental in nature. Hot water splashing from the cooking utensils/ falling over to boiled water in kitchen (68.75%) was the most common mode of injury. Thorax (86.1%) was the most common body region involved. The average total body surface area (TBSA) burn was 50.83%.The mean survival period of all victims was 3.83 days. All the victims were hospitalized after the incident and in majority (75%) of them died due to septicemia.