Mortalities among children and adolescents in manipal, southern India.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the epidemiology and trends of traumatic deaths among children and adolescents in Manipal, Southern India.


METHODS
Analysis of all trauma deaths in children and adolescents aged between 1 and 19 years, autopsied between January 1994 and December 2005. The study is based on autopsy records, information furnished by the police, and chemical analysis report.


RESULTS
There has been a substantial decline in the incidence of traumatic deaths among children and adolescents during 1994 to 2005. Road traffic injuries were responsible for maximum mortalities (38.4%), followed by those because of burns (24.9%) and poisoning (15.9%). Males comprised 59.6% of cases. Male-to-female ratio was 1.5:1. Males predominantly died of traffic injuries (45.2%), whereas females as a result of burns (37.4%). There was more than two-fold increase in injury-related mortalities from childhood to adolescence (1:2.3).


CONCLUSIONS
Among children and adolescents, traffic injuries and burns are responsible for maximum injury-related mortalities in males and females, respectively. More injury reducing measures are required for effective reduction in traumatic deaths.
Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, India. tanujkanchan@yahoo.co.in
Tanuj
T
Kanchan
Ritesh G
RG
Menezes
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy