Citation

Breitmeier D, Schulz M, Schulz Y, Gunther D, Fieguth A, Albrecht K. Arch. Kriminol. 2010; 226(3-4): 107-118.

Vernacular Title

Ertrinkungstod--eine systematische retrospektive Untersuchung.

Affiliation

Aus dem Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Verlag Schmidt-Romhild)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

21121121

Abstract

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.

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