Abstract

Aims and Objectives: The aims of the study to know the factors like nourishment, temperature and humidity affecting the pattern rigor mortis in hospital deaths. The determination of time since death is an important factor into the inquiry of death of an individual. The rigor mortis is one such parameter that can help the medical fraternity to deduce the time since death as well as the position of the body at the time of death. Material and method: The present prospective study of 100 medicolegal autopsy cases, was conducted on fully identified patients who died in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital Amritsar with effect from November 1, 2019 after taking permission from the institutional ethical committee and the institutional thesis committee. Results: In April to June, fully developed rigor mortis was at postmortem interval of 16 hrs and 9 mins. The rigor was disappearing at an average duration of 25 hrs and 52 mins. The present study concluded that the onset of rigor mortis is slow and duration long in cold weather. Rigor mortis persists longer in cold wet air than in fresh dry air. It is prolonged by dry cold air and cold water. On the other hand the onset of rigor mortis is rapid due to heat, and the duration is short. Conclusion: Environmental factors like temperature and humidity plays an important role in affecting the rigor mortis. Nourishment and age also contributeto the rigor mortis. It is to be noted that the usually taught standard rule of 12 does not always hold true in each case as process of rigor mortis influenced by many variables especially temperature and humidity.

Description

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