Publication:

Socio-demographic factors in mechanical asphyxial deaths in Thane region, Maharashtra, India

Background This study was done to analyze the various socio-demographic variables of the subjects who died of Mechanical Asphyxia and had undergone post mortem examination, over the last 10 years, at the FMT Department of Rajiv Gandhi Medical College and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital, Thane, Maharashtra, India.

Methods After IEC approval, a descriptive, complete enumeration study of recorded data from PM register from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2015 (n=5128) was carried. Of these, deaths due to mechanical asphyxial causes were segregated and analyzed.

Results Of the total 654 autopsies conducted from mechanical asphyxial deaths in the last 10 years, majority (248, 37.9%) were in age group 21 30 years. Of the different types of mechanical asphyxial deaths, maximum were cases of hanging (409, 62.5%), followed by drowning (204, 31.2%), Suffocation (32, 4.9%) and strangulation (9, 1.4%).

Conclusions Drowning and hanging were common in males whereas strangulation was common in females. A high proportion of subjects who died due to drowning were less than 10 years old (21.6%). We did not find any role of religion as a factor in asphyxial death.