DOI: https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs2216388 ORIGINAL ARTICLE 88 P J M H S Vol. 16, No. 03, MAR 2022 Frequency of Profiling of Forensic Autopsies AISHA RASHEED 1 , NASEEM AKHTAR 2 , ISHTIAQUE ALI LANGAH 3 , IJAZ AZIZ 4 , SONO MAL 5 , AZRA ANWAR 6 1 Assistant Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro Sindh, Pakistan 2 Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, Sindh Medical College, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi Sindh, Pakistan 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Loralai Medical College, Loralai, , Baluchistan 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Mekran Medical College, Turbat, Baluchistan 5 Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Sindh Medical College, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan 6 Lecturer, Department of Forensic Medicine, Ziauddin University, Karachi Sindh, Pakistan Correspondence to Dr. Ijaz Aziz, E-mail: ijazaziz62@gmail.com Cell: 03134344367 ABSTRACT Aim: To identify the profiling of medicolegal autopsies. Study design: Prospective observational study. Place and duration of study: Medicolegal Section, Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad from 1 st January 2015 to 31 st December 2019. Methodology: Nine hundred and eighty two autopsies of medicolegal nature were performed over a period of five years. The data was collected from forensic autopsy reports and was recorded with the consent of close relatives. Results: Majority of the subject was male (78.92%) and belonged to age group of ≥19 to <60 years. The number of subjects reported from urban locality (67.61%) was higher than rural areas (32.39%). The distribution of causes of deaths showed major contribution of road traffic accidents (45.32%) followed by fire arm injury (16.70%), asphyxia (15.31%), train accident (3.46%), and poisoning (1.83%). All of the causes of deaths were higher in males and within age group of adults. Most of the medicolegal nature causalities were reported from urban areas of the region. The number of forensic autopsies was highest in summer season (40.12%). Conclusion: The males outnumbered the females in medicolegal autopsies. The road traffic accidents had highest frequency of causing deaths in both genders and in all age groups irrespective of locality and seasons. Keywords: Forensic autopsy, road traffic accident, fire arm injury, asphyxia, seasons INTRODUCTION The accurate determination of cause of death possesses an immense importance not only for family and relatives on individual level but also facilitates health care planning on population level. 1 For medicolegal purpose, the cause and manner of death are established along with time since death and identity of the deceased. The resultant information works as evidence to support law-enforcement procedures. Autopsy is a scientific method to identify the cause of death through examining the whole surface, organs, and cavities of the body. 2 The clinical autopsy is performed for diagnosis of disease and is considered an important tool for quality assessment in healthcare. 1 Whereas, the autopsies are termed as medicolegal for the cases in which the law enforcement agencies have aspect of interest to confirm or prevent suspicions with reference to criminal offences. 2 The autopsy is also performed often in cases where the cause is believed to be unnatural and is suspicious of being accidental, suicidal, or homicidal in nature. 3 The study of frequency and pattern of the unnatural deaths is important to determine the mortality statistics with aspects of unnatural deaths in a specific region. Moreover, the profiling of medicolegal cases can also contribute to minimize the rate of preventable causalities in future 4 . The findings of this study could be helpful to understand the incidence of unnatural deaths in the region and could help the public health policy makers, government bodies, and law- enforcement authorities to plan and implement the strategies that can avoid the preventable causes of unnatural deaths. MATERIALS AND METHODS After permission from IRB, the present observational study was prospectively conducted at Medicolegal Section of Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan over a period of five years from 1 st January 2015 to 31 st December 2019. Various parameters such as gender, age, address, reporting police station, and cause of death were obtained from autopsy reports and were recorded in a designed data collection sheet after getting consent from close relatives of the deceased. The autopsy reports of medicolegal nature were included in this study for profiling whereas the non-medicolegal autopsies were excluded. Causes of death were broadly categorized as road traffic accidents, train accidents, fire arm injury, assault, asphyxial death, poisoning, and electric shock. The cause of death was classified as ‘other’ if it could not fit into mentioned categories. The data was entered and analyzed through SPSS-24. The objective of the study was to identify the profiling of medicolegal autopsies. RESULTS There were 775 males and 207 females. The age of deceased ranged from one year to 85 years with mean age of 33.06 years. The highest frequency of both males (74.71%) and females (71.50%) belonged to age group between 18 and 60 years old followed by teens (10.29%) and children (8.45%). The least number of autopsies was observed in children with age from 1 to 12 years. The categorization of locality into urban and rural showed that a significant portion i.e. approximately 70%, of the medicolegal autopsies was performed for deceased belonging from urban localities. With reference to seasonal fluctuations, the medicolegal autopsies performed were maximal in summer season irrespective of gender, age groups, and locality (Table 1). The road traffic accident was concluded in 45% of the studied medicolegal autopsies and was found to be the leading cause of death in this study. The occurrence of road traffic accident was highest in adults (71.69%), in urban locality (68.76%), and during summer season (40.32%). The fire arm injury was second most prominent cause of death followed by asphyxia, assault, train accident, and electric shock (Table 2). Most of the causes of death were higher among adult males belonging from urban locality. After adults, the teenage group had higher frequencies of road traffic accidents, fire arm injury, assault, and electric shock than children and elderly. However, the number of asphyxial deaths was higher in children in comparison to teens. On the other hand, the frequency of poisoning was found equal in both children and teens age groups. The road traffic accident, asphyxia, poising, and electric shock were least causatives of deaths in elderly. Only 9 and 17 autopsies remained undetermined and reserved, respectively, out of total 982 autopsies ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Received on 15-09-2021 Accepted on 25-02-2022