{"title":"Analysis of Forensic Death Statistics From 2013 to 2022 and Autopsy Practices in Türkiye","authors":"Cemil Çelik, Uğur Ata, Naile Esra Saka","doi":"10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2023.2023-9-10","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Autopsy rates are significantly lower that what they should be worldwide. Additionally, autopsy practices vary between countries.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To examine the autopsy rates, the distribution and temporal changes of forensic autopsy cases, so as to identify the areas in the death investigation system that require improvement in Türkiye.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>Cross-sectional study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>“Forensic Death Examination Statistics” of the Council of Forensic Medicine (CFM) and “Death Statistics” of the Turkish Statistical Institute were compared and analyzed for the years 2013-2022 in Türkiye.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The number of forensic death cases sent to the CFM has increased over time. For all causes of deaths, the autopsy rate is approximately 3.6-4.8%. The cause-specific mortality rates for deaths due to sharp instrument trauma, blunt trauma, occupational accident, undetermined, and poisoning have increased over the years. “The percentage of “undetermined” deaths, which are important to demonstrate negative autopsies, was 14.2% in 2021.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Although the autopsy rates have slightly increased in a volatile trend over time in Türkiye, they are still not at the desired level. Thus, it is essential to further raise awareness among all professionals involved in death investigations about the importance of autopsies.</p>","PeriodicalId":8690,"journal":{"name":"Balkan Medical Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10767775/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Balkan Medical Journal","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2023.2023-9-10","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/11/27 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Autopsy rates are significantly lower that what they should be worldwide. Additionally, autopsy practices vary between countries.
Aims: To examine the autopsy rates, the distribution and temporal changes of forensic autopsy cases, so as to identify the areas in the death investigation system that require improvement in Türkiye.
Study design: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: “Forensic Death Examination Statistics” of the Council of Forensic Medicine (CFM) and “Death Statistics” of the Turkish Statistical Institute were compared and analyzed for the years 2013-2022 in Türkiye.
Results: The number of forensic death cases sent to the CFM has increased over time. For all causes of deaths, the autopsy rate is approximately 3.6-4.8%. The cause-specific mortality rates for deaths due to sharp instrument trauma, blunt trauma, occupational accident, undetermined, and poisoning have increased over the years. “The percentage of “undetermined” deaths, which are important to demonstrate negative autopsies, was 14.2% in 2021.
Conclusion: Although the autopsy rates have slightly increased in a volatile trend over time in Türkiye, they are still not at the desired level. Thus, it is essential to further raise awareness among all professionals involved in death investigations about the importance of autopsies.
期刊介绍:
The Balkan Medical Journal (Balkan Med J) is a peer-reviewed open-access international journal that publishes interesting clinical and experimental research conducted in all fields of medicine, interesting case reports and clinical images, invited reviews, editorials, letters, comments and letters to the Editor including reports on publication and research ethics. The journal is the official scientific publication of the Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey and is printed six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. The language of the journal is English.
The journal is based on independent and unbiased double-blinded peer-reviewed principles. Only unpublished papers that are not under review for publication elsewhere can be submitted. Balkan Medical Journal does not accept multiple submission and duplicate submission even though the previous one was published in a different language. The authors are responsible for the scientific content of the material to be published. The Balkan Medical Journal reserves the right to request any research materials on which the paper is based.
The Balkan Medical Journal encourages and enables academicians, researchers, specialists and primary care physicians of Balkan countries to publish their valuable research in all branches of medicine. The primary aim of the journal is to publish original articles with high scientific and ethical quality and serve as a good example of medical publications in the Balkans as well as in the World.