Profile of Asphyxial Deaths in Faisalabad: A 10-Year Study

To determine the frequency of violent asphyxial deaths in Faisalabad over a span of a decade; and assessing the age and gender vulnerability. Descriptive cross-sectional study. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, from January 2007 to December 2016. Cases identified as violent asphyxial deaths according to police inquests and findings of the medico-legal examiners were computed. Age, gender, and cause of asphyxia recorded in predesigned proformas and analysed by SPSS version 12.0. Asphyxial deaths accounted for 7.66% (259 / 3,381) of the medico-legal deaths during the 10-year span. Majority (28.57%) victims belonged to the 20-29 year age group, followed by the 10-19 year age group (20.07%). Male victims (56%) outnumbered the females (44%) by ratio of 1.3:1. Ligature strangulation was the cause of asphyxia in majority of the victims (40.93%), followed by hanging (28.96%). Young population between 20-29 years were the predominant victims of violent asphyxial deaths. Homicide due to ligature strangulation was the commonest form of violent asphyxial deaths.