Abstract

Introduction: Drowning deaths are very crucial from medico-legal point of view. When we consider drowning deaths, surprisingly rising trend is seen in this aspect. Now it has become a global problem and there is great concern about reduction in mortality rate due to drowning. In view of this, thereis an immense need to understand the factors associated with drowning deaths, so that preventive measures can be taken to minimize such a global problem. To fulfill above goal present study was undertaken to understand the trend of drowning related deaths.

This retrospective study was done by assessing theautopsy cases done in mortuary of SBHGM College during the period from 1st January 2021 to 31st December 2021.

We found that 40 (76.92%) victims were male and 12 (23.07%) were female. Drowning deaths were most commonly seen in age groups of 21-30 years (25%). Married population constituted 35 (67.30%) cases and 16 (30.76%) were unmarried. Hindu community contributed to maximum number of cases with 51.92% cases. Students were the most common victims in drowning deaths accounting to 30.76% cases, followed by farmers i.e. 23.07% of cases. Maximum deaths occurred in month of September (21.15%) attributing to rainy season. Maximum drowning deaths occurred between 6 am to 12 pm (n=18, 34.61%) followed by 12 pm to 6 pm (n=15, 28.84%). Most of the drowned victims were retrieved from well (46.15%), followed by dam (13.46%), canal (13.46%). It was reported that most of the drowning deaths were accidental in manner (48.07%).

From this study, it is clear that drowning deaths occurred mostly in males of age group of 21-30 years. The married and Hindu population is largely involved. Profession-wise distribution clearly indicates that students and farmers are quite susceptible to drowning tragedy. Most of the drowning cases were accidental in nature followed by suicides and occurred commonly in wells in rural area and lakes in urban area.

• 1.   Anil Aggrawal, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology for MBBS, 1st edition, Avichal Publishing Company, New Delhi 2016 page no 293.
• 2.   Drowning. World Health Organization. Available from:http:// w w w.who.int/news-room/factssheet/detail/drowning. (Last cited on 2022 March 27).
• 3.   G.S.R.K.G. Ranga Rao, Jakkam Surendar, G.K.V. Prasad. A Comprehensive Study of Drowning in and Around Kakinada, Two Years Retrospective Study. Sch. J. App. Med. Sci., 2014; 2(4D):1397-1401.
• 4.   83 Deaths Every Day in 2018 Due to Drowning in India: Report. News Click. Available from:http://www.newsclick. in/83-deaths-very-day-2018-duedrowning-india-report. (Last cited on 2022 March 27).
• 5.   Phad LG, Dhawane SG. Epidemiological profile of drowning deaths: a cross sectional study. Egypt J Forensic Sci.2018;8(1). DOI:10.1186/ s41935-018-0056-8.
• 6.   Tanuj Kanchan, Prateek Rastogi, Manoj Kumar Mohanty. Profile of near drowning victims in coastal region of Karnataka, JIAFM,2007;29(4).
• 7.   Thakar MK and Guleria P. Tracking Drowning Trends in Himachal Pradeshduring 2006-2010. Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology [serial online], 2015;16(1) (JanJune2015)Availablefrom:http:// a n i l a g g r a wa l . c o m / i j / v o l _ 0 1 6 _ no_001/papers/paper004.html.
• 8.   Manigandaraj G, Selvakumar R. Demographic profile of drowning deaths autopsied in Chennai. MedPulse International Journal of Forensic Medicine, July 2021; 19(1): 01-06.
• 9.   Raja Sekhar Uppu, BVS Ananda Rao, Beemsetty Rajesh. An Autopsy Study of Drowning Deaths in and around Visakhapatnam. Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, January-March 2020; 14(1): 23-27.
• 10.   AG Vijay Kumar, MG Shivaramu, U Kumar. Pattern of Drowning Cases in Rural Area: A Retrospective Autopsy Study. Journal of Medical Sciences and Health, Sep-Dec 2015;1 (3): 18-20.
• 11.   Paranitharan P, Perera WNS, Lakmal S, Priyanath DC, Senanayake TAAW & Kumari MKJK. Deaths Following Drowning in Sri Lanka- A Retrospective Study. Sri Lanka Journal of Forensic Medicine, Science & Law, December 2020; 11(2): 1-8.
• 12.   Vishva Deepak Bijawat, Binaca Gandhi, Ankit Kumawat, Ravi Kumawat. A Study on Profile of Drowning Casesat JLN. Medical College, Ajmer. PARIPEX - Indian Journal of Research, July 2020; 9(7): 46-48.
• 13.   Niraj Kumar, Vivek Mangare, Naman Kandpal, Aishwarya Bajpei. Autopsy based profile of drowning cases at a tertiary care centre near a hilly river. Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine, JanuaryMarch, 2019; 6(1):28-32.
• 14.   Gajanan H Nayak, Mahalaxmi Karlawad. A Medicolegal Examination of Drowning Deaths-A Retrospective Study. International Journal of Science and Research, January 2017; 6(1):811-814.
• 15.   Madan Prasad Baral, Nuwadatta Subedi. Demographic and autopsy characteristics of drowning deaths in a major autopsy center of Gandaki province of Nepal. Journal of Gandaki Medical College-Nepal, Jan-Jun 2021;14(1):50-3.
• 16.   Aminur Rahman, Olakunle Alonge, Al-Amin Bhuiyan, Priyanka Agrawal, Shumona Sharmin Salam, Abu Talab, Qazi Sadeq-ur Rahman and Adnan A. Hyder. Epidemiology of Drowning in Bangladesh: An Update. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 488; doi:10.3390/ijerph14050488.
• 17.   Mukesh Kumar Thakar, Sandeep Singh Sahota, Rajvinder Singh. Deaths due to drowning in Punjab- A survey (2005 to 2006). Medico-Legal Update, January-June 2009; 9(1): 18- 22.
• 18.   Amy E Peden, Alison J Mahony, Paul D Barnsley, Justin Scarr. Understanding the full burden of drowning: a retrospective, cross sectional analysis of fatal and nonfatal drowning in Australia. BMJ Open 2018; 8: e024868. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2018-024868.

Data Sharing Statement

Funding