Epidemiology of Sudden Unexpected Natural Medico-legal Deaths in Central Delhi

Objectives: To study the epidemiological, magnitude, clinical, and pathological characteristics of sudden unexpected non-violent deaths (SUNDs) in central Delhi. Material & Method: Autopsy based retrospective study of all SUNDs carried out in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi. All records were studied in detail; age, sex, time and month of date, cause of death etc. Results: Total 2773 medico-legal autopsies were conducted from 1st January, 2006 to 31st December 2010. Out of that, 915 (32.99%) cases were of SUNDs. Male and female ratio was 13:1. The maximum 279 (30.49%) sudden deaths were reported in age group 41-50 years followed by 51-60 years i.e. 201 (21.96%). The most common cause of death in all age groups including all identified and unidentified individuals was pulmonary pneumonitis (n=508, 55.76%) followed by tuberculosis (n=175, 19.20%) and CAD (n=144, 15.73%). But in identified individual alone CAD was commonest (n=135, 36.78%) cause of SUNDs and followed by Pulmonary pneumonitis (32.97%). Maximum 122 (13.33%) deaths were reported in September. Conclusion: Observations suggest that most of the SUNDs were due to preventable causes and meticulous autopsy and study of histopathology and toxicological analysis could be important to ascertain the cause of death.