Pattern of sudden deaths in armed forces personnel, postmortem study

ABSTRACT

This retrospective study was carried out in Pathology Laboratory, Combined Military Hospital [CMH], Lahore to analyse the pattern of sudden deaths in the Armed Forces for the last 2 years. The postmortem record of 1993/94 was scrutinised to find the data of 50 consecutive cases of sudden deaths for further study. The detailed postmortems of these cases had been carried out and gross features recorded. The histopathology of the various organs was done and chemical analysis of abdominal viscera carried out in all cases. The results revealed that sudden cardiac death was the most common cause of fatality [28%] in this series. Most of these cases were young Sepoy / Non Commissioned Officers [Sep / NCOs] [8/12] under the age of 40 years. There were 4 JCOs and only 2 Officers. The second commonest cause was accidents [24%] followed by electrocution [12%]. Brain haemorrhage accounted for 4 cases of sudden deaths, one of whom had oligodendroglioma. Some other causes of sudden deaths included drowning [6%], gun shot wounds [6%] and burns [6%]. In conclusion, a fairly high number of cases of sudden cardiac deaths occurring in young soldiers reveals a disturbing trend. Preventive measures like anti-smoking compaign need to betaken to curb this trend in the Armed Forces. Road traffic accidents, drowing and electrocution are preventable causes of sudden deaths which take a heavy toll of trained manpower. An analysis of data of sudden deaths on yearly basis in the Armed Forces is proposed