Profile of Death Due to Thermal Burns: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Fire is one of the important element of life, it is both useful (in cooking, producing warmth in winter,
in cremation etc.) as well as harmful (by producing thermal burn injuries, blast injuries, forest fire, crop
burning, volcanic eruption etc.) to the mankind. Burn injury is now becoming the major cause of death
among unnatural deaths in various regions of the country and world. Majority of the burn cases occurat
home due to smoking, defective electrical wiring, defective kerosene stove bursts, attempted suicides by
self-immolation, homicidal burns of young women by husband or in-laws (dowry deaths). The present study
was based on retrospective analysis of post mortem cases of thermal burns during the period from January
2018 to December 2018 in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Bundelkhand Medical
College, Sagar (M.P). During this period total 349 autopsies were conducted, out of which majorities of
death, 116 cases were due to burn. Majority of the victims were married hindu females belonging to age
group of 21-30 years. Of these cases carbon soot particles in trachea were present in 7% of cases and
kerosene smell was present in 21% cases. Most of deaths were accidental account for 78.44% cases. Police
inquest was conducted in 76% of the cases and rest of the cases were magistrate inquest. In 52(44.82%)
cases, 60-80% of Total Body Surface Area (TSBA) was burnt of all body parts upper extremities were
commonly involved in about 96.55% cases. Accidental burn injuries are preventable and can be reduced by
bringing about regulations to develop safer cooking appliances, promoting less inflammable fabrics to be
worn at home and educating the community especially women.