[Aquatic fatalities--a systematic retrospective analysis].
In a retrospective analysis of the autopsy material (n = 5,767) of the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School covering the period of 1998-2007, all aquatic fatalities were evaluated, categorized and systematically compared under epidemiological and forensic criteria. The total of 156 cases of death by drowning (2.7 % of all autopsies) included 38 bathtub drownings and 28 deaths in the water for which no pathological anatomical cause of death could be reliably demonstrated. A control group (n = 221) was investigated for the presence of aqueous liquid in the sphenoid sinuses and compared with the findings of the drowning cases without signs of putrefaction. About 16 % of the control cases had fluid in the sphenoid sinuses compared with 57.6 % in the drowning group. Most of the drowning victims were men (60.9 %), whereas in the group of bathtub drownings the majority were women. More than half of the drowning cases (n = 89) could be classified as accidents. The individual groups showed a different incidence of findings associated with drowning.
Aus dem Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover.
Dirk
D
Breitmeier
Mirja
M
Schulz
Yvonne
Y
Schulz
Detlef
D
Günther
Armin
A
Fieguth
Knut
K
Albrecht
D000059:Accidents / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001344:Autopsy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004332:Drowning / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006708:Homicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013101:Sphenoid Sinus / Q000473:pathology*; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence