Hypothermia as the cause of death in forensic pathology: Autopsy study

摘要

Introduction. The body cooling process goes through few clinical phases. These are followed by some morphological thanatological changes such as frost erythema and Wischnewsky's spots, which are used in diagnosis of death due to hypothermia. In such cases there is no any specific autopsy finding. Objective. To establish the frequency of hypothermia as the cause of death for a ten-year-period, and to analyze the sample according to gender and age, risk factors and autopsy findings of subjects. Methods. A retrospective autopsy study was performed for a ten-year-period (total of 12,765 forensic autopsies). The relevant data were collected from autopsy records, police reports and heteroanamnestic interviews. The sample was analyzed according to gender, age, scene of death, blood alcohol concentration, risk factors, and autopsy findings of all observed subjects. Results. The sample included 67 subjects, 42 males and 25 females (χ2=4.31; p