Causes of unnatural deaths among children and adolescents in northern India – A qualitative analysis of postmortem data

Child Fatalities in Dammam: A Call for Child Fatality Reviews in Arab Countries

“…Accidental deaths were the most common in this study, which was consistent with past studies that showed even higher rates (e.g., 51%-82%) (5,9). This could be explained by the inclusion of road traffic accident victims that do not present to the forensic department in Dammam.…”

Head Trauma–Related Deaths Among Preschool Children in Istanbul, Turkey

“…A review of the literature revealed that a great number of studies reported traffic accident as the most common cause of head trauma-related childhood 3,4,6,[21][22][23][24] whereas similar to our findings, some other studies found traffic accident as the second most common cause of head trauma-related childhood deaths. 7,13,25 Of a total of 67 cases involving traffic accident, 40 (60%) were males and 27 (40%) were females, and victims were mostly in 13-to 36-month-age group with 32 cases (48%), in the present study. In accordance to this, 2 studies from Africa and Norway revealed similar numbers and percentages of males (51, 56%) and females (40, 44%).…”

“…In accordance to our findings, studies conducted in India and United Arab Emirates also reported fall from a height as the most common cause of head trauma-related fatalities. 7,13 It took the third place among deaths of children aged between 1 and 4 years in Chicago; however, a study conducted in Ohio between 1994 and 1996 showed that fall from a height was the fourth most common among causes of death in same age group. 6 Fall from a height contributes mortality rates; furthermore, this contribution is significant in children younger than 5 years, in particular.…”

Systematic review of drowning in India: assessment of burden and risk

“…A nationally representative study showed fatal drowning rates were highest in the 0–5 years’ age group before steadily decreasing over the lifespan 4. One review of autopsy data attributed 11% of all fatal child (0–10 years) injury deaths to drowning14 while a second study, using similar methodology in a different setting, attributed 0.5% of all child (1–19 years) deaths to drowning 13. The majority of community members involved in focus group discussions in Tamil Nadu were not aware that drowning was a major cause of death among children in their community 27…”