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Na, Park, Choi, Lee, Choi, Chung, Park, Jeon, Kim, Choi, and Seo: The Statistical Analysis of Legal Autopsies in 2011 (The Headquarters of National Forensic Service)
Original Article
Korean Journal of Legal Medicine

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2012; 36(2): 165-173.

Published online: 30 November 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/KoreanJLegMed.2012.36.2.165

The Statistical Analysis of Legal Autopsies in 2011 (The Headquarters of National Forensic Service)

Joo Young Na, Jong Pil Park, Min Sung Choi, Han Young Lee, Young Shik Choi, Nak Eun Chung, Hye Jin Park, Seok Hoon Jeon, Yu Hoon Kim, Byung Ha Choi, Joong Seok Seo

Division of Forensic Medicine, National Forensic Service, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding Author (sjsme@korea.kr)

Received 23 October 2012       Revised 13 November 2012       Accepted 20 November 2012

Copyright © 2012 The Korean Society for Legal Medicine

Abstract

This is a statistical analysis of the data obtained from legal autopsies performed at the headquarters of the National Forensic Service during 2011. This report aims to analyze 2,723 cases.

  1. There were 1,995 (73.3%) cases involving mortalities among men and 707 (26.7%) among women; evidently, the number of deaths that occurred among men were twice as many as that among women. With respect to age, 694 (24.4%) deaths occurred in individuals aged in their forties and 658 (22.8%) among those in their fifties.

  2. There were 1,437 (52.8%) cases of unnatural deaths, 1,159 (42.5%) cases of natural deaths, and 127 (4.7%) deaths from unknown causes. Among the 1,437 unnatural deaths, 483 (33.6%) were suicidal, 255 (17.7%) homicidal, 546 (38.0%) accidental, and 153 (10.6%) were of undetermined causes.

  3. There were 618 cases of trauma-related death, accounting for 43.0% of the 1,437 unnatural deaths. Blunt trauma was the leading cause of trauma-related deaths, accounting for 174 (28.2%) cases. Deaths due to asphyxiation, among which hanging (187 cases, 64.7%) was the predominant cause, accounted for 289 cases. There were 192 (13.4%) deaths from poisoning, 151 (10.5%) from drowning, 139 (9.7%) from thermal injuries, 31 (2.2%) as a complication of medical procedures, and 14 (1.0%) from electrocutions.

  4. Among the 1,159 natural deaths, heart diseases accounted for 600 (51.8%) deaths and vascular diseases accounted for 160 (13.8%) deaths.

  5. There were 83 cases of death among children aged under 10; out of 33 unnatural deaths, 20 (24.1%) cases were homicidal.

Keywords: autopsy, cause of death, manner of death, statistic

Figures and Tables

Table 1
Age, Sex, and Manner of Death of Total Number of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i001

*N.I. : Not identified

Table 2
Cause of Death and Sex in Unnatural Death of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i002

*U.K.: Unknown

Table 3
Cause of Death in Trauma of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i003
Table 4
Fatal Sites of Blunt Force Injury and Manner of Death of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i004

*TSH: traumatic shock; **PSH: primary shock

Table 5
Fatal Sites of Sharp Force Injury and Manner of Death of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i005
Table 6
Cause of Death in Asphyxia of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i006
Table 7
Cause of Death in Poisoning of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i007
Table 8
Cause of Death in Thermal Injury of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i008
Table 9
Cause of Death and Sex in Natural Death of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i009
Table 10
Cause of Death and Sex in Miscellaneous Natural Death of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i010
Table 11
Manner of Death in Children under 10 of Legal Autopsies Performed in the Headquarter of National Forensic Service of Korea during the Year 2011
kjlm-36-165-i011

*Neonate : birth - 4 weeks ; **Infancy : 1 month - 1 year ; ***Preschool : 2 years - 5 years ; ***Prepubertal : 6 years - 10 years

References

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