Abstract

A study was conducted on the types and patterns of unnatural death among the children and adolescent population at a tertiary care centre in north- east India with the following objectives - 1. To analyse causes of unnatural deaths in children and adolescent 2. To study the means of suicide in this population 3.To study the demographic profile of these victims Materials and methods: A one year retrospective cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care centre in North east India. One year records of unnatural deaths which came for autopsy in the department of Forensic Medicine were included in the study. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Majority of the cases were between 16-19 years of age (51.59%) followed by 11-15 years (28.12%), 1-5 years (10.72%) and 6-10 years (9.57%). Male to female ratio was 1.3:1. Accidental deaths comprised 55.65% cases, suicidal deaths 42.61% , homicides 1.74 % cases. Suicides were more common in females (62.59% vs 37.41% in males). Most common mode of suicide was hanging (57.14%) in both males and females followed by poisoning (39.46%) and a minority died by burns (3.4%). Road traffic accidents was the most common type of unnatural death (25.22%) followed by hanging(24.35%), poisoning (17.68%), drowning(15.94%), burns(7.54%), fall from height(4.35%). Conclusion:. As the socioeconomic and cultural factors vary from state to state, understanding the ground reality of unexpected and unnatural deaths can help us to formulate effective strategies to counter these both at the individual, societal and administrative levels.

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