Profile of Asphyxial Deaths in Faisalabad: A 10-Year Study

Objective: To determine the frequency of violent asphyxial deaths in Faisalabad over a span of a decade; and assessing the age and gender vulnerability. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, from January 2007 to December 2016. Methodology: Cases identified as violent asphyxial deaths according to police inquests and findings of the medico-legal examiners were computed. Age, gender, and cause of asphyxia recorded in predesigned proformas and analysed by SPSS version 12.0. Results: Asphyxial deaths accounted for 7.66% (259 / 3,381) of the medico-legal deaths during the 10-year span. Majority (28.57%) victims belonged to the 20-29 year age group, followed by the 10-19 year age group (20.07%). Male victims (56%) outnumbered the females (44%) by ratio of 1.3:1. Ligature strangulation was the cause of asphyxia in majority of the victims (40.93%), followed by hanging (28.96%). Conclusion: Young population between 20-29 years were the predominant victims of violent asphyxial deaths. Homicide due to ligature strangulation was the commonest form of violent asphyxial deaths.