Pattern of Deaths among Women of Reproductive Age in Major Autopsy Centres of Capital Cities of the Seven Provinces of Nepal.

BACKGROUND: The females in the reproductive age group are vulnerable to injuries and diseases. There is no reliable evidence of the pattern of deaths in reproductive age group females from Nepal. This study was conducted to explore the patterns of deaths of females of the reproductive age group in Nepal. METHODS: A multicentric quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among the 611 deceased females of age 15 to 49 years who had undergone medico-legal autopsy in major autopsy centers of the capital cities of seven provinces of Nepal in a duration of one year. The demographic, clinical, and causes of death data were retrieved from the records and analyzed. The intentional and unintentional causes were compared with the marital status, age groups, ethnicity, and deceased of rural and urban communities. RESULTS: Female reproductive age group deaths constituted 611 (20·64%) of the total autopsies. Suicide was the most common manner of death (413, 67·59%) followed by accident (121, 19·80%). The most common cause of suicide was hanging (258, 62·47%) followed by poisoning (149, 36·08%) whereas road traffic accident (72, 59·5%) was the commonest cause of accidental death. Intentional deaths were associated with higher risk to the females of younger age groups (p<0·001), ethnicity of the hilly region (p<0·001), and unmarried women (p=0·001). CONCLUSIONS: Suicide was the commonest manner of death among the autopsies of females of the reproductive age group in Nepal. Appropriate preventive strategies need to be developed to uplift the overall health, socioeconomic status, and general wellbeing of the females.

Mean Brain Weight among Autopsy Cases at the Department of Forensic Medicine of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Introduction: Weight of the brain is an important diagnostic criterion during autopsy. Normal variations in brain weight among various population demands for population-specific study. The aim of this study was to find the mean brain weight among autopsy cases at a tertiary care centre. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among autopsy cases in the Department of Forensic Medicine of a tertiary care hospital from July 2019 to July 2021. The approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 550/2019). Convenience sampling was done. Brain was dissected following standard autopsy technique and weight was measured by an electronic digital weighing scale (5 kg/0.01 gm). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 was used for data analysis. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval and descriptive statistics were used to express results in frequency, mean, standard deviation, range, and percentage. Results: The mean brain weight for 394 autopsy cases was 1272.38±144.07 grams (1258.15-1286.60 at 95% Confidence Interval). For male and female it was 1322.47±140.22 grams and 1221.27±129.55 grams respectively. Maximum attainment of brain weight was found at 21 to 30 years age group for both sexes. Out of 394 cases, 199 (50.50%) were males and 195 (49.50%) were females. In all the age groups, male brain weight was greater than that of female. Conclusions: The mean weight of the brain derived from the present study is found to have variable values in comparison to other studies done under similar settings. Keywords: autopsy; brain; organ weight.