DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY OF DEATHS DUE TO MECHANICAL ASPHYXIA

Aim and objective : To do a demographic analysis of autopsy records on mechanical asphyxial fatalities and the various procedures employed to do it.. Methodology : It was a retrospective (descriptive) study carried out at the Government Medical College in Ananthapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. A review of the autopsy records revealed instances of mechanical asphyxial deaths, along with the cause of the asphyxia. The information pertains to the months of January 2021 to Janauary 2022. Results : There were 777 autopsies conducted between January 2021 and January 2022. 122 (15.7%) cases of mechanical asphyxia were identied from the autopsy records and were studied. There were 27 female cases (36.1%) and 78 male cases (63.9%) in this group. Male to female ratio was discovered to be 2.8:1. The cases in this study ranged in age from 14 to 80 years. The cases' mean age is 39 years. The age range of 20–29 years accounts for 19.6% of cases, followed by that of 30–39 years (20.5%) and those between 40–49 years (13.9%) and the age range of 20 to 49 years is represented by 53.2% of the cases. Conclusion : Among the deaths due to mechanical asphyxia, most common manner of death is suicide, hanging constitutes most(60.6%) of the mechanical asphyxial deaths in this study and 100% of the cases were antemortem and suicidal in manner. Other forms of mechanical asphyxia are not as common as hanging.