title: Electrocution fatalities in military personnel in Ankara, Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate various cases of death caused by electrical injuries among Turkish military personnel.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed fatality cases of military personnel between 1994 and 2013 at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey, the only forensic medicine center for the Turkish Armed Forces. Medical records and autopsy reports of cases of electrical fatalities were reviewed and analyzed in terms of age and gender-specific incidence, voltage, contact details, body region distribution, location, and season of incident, site, and severity of injuries sustained, and histopathological and toxicological findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixteen (3.5%) out of the 450 autopsy cases involved electrocution. All deaths were accidental and most frequently occurred outdoors (75%). Eight (50%) died due to high voltage while 6 (37.5%) died due to low voltage. The entry and exit lesions were determined most frequently in cases with high voltage injury. The low voltage deaths commonly occurred at the scene of the event (66.6%), while almost all high voltage deaths occurred in the hospital (87.5%, p=0.03). Electrical burns were most commonly detected in the upper extremities (32.6%, n=14).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study shows that deaths due to high voltage electrocution are more frequent than low voltage electrocution among military personnel.
authors: Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Etlik, Ankara, Turkey. E-mail. htugcu@gata.edu.tr.
authors: Harun
authors: H
authors: Tugcu
authors: Sait
authors: S
authors: Özsoy
authors: Huseyin
authors: H
authors: Balandiz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004556:Electric Injuries / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
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