Medico-Legal Autopsy Results of Preschool Childhood Deaths

Objectives: To evaluate medico-legal autopsy findings of preschool childhood deaths, and to document the differences according to years, and preventable causes of deaths. Patients and Methods: Necropsy records of 140 cases (77 boys, 63 girls; mean age 31.6 months; range 1 to 5 years), which were referred to Ankara Forensic Group between 2003 and 2007, were reviewed retrospectively. Results: The number of male cases was greater than that of female cases, though not statistically significant. Forensic death rate was higher in 2006 and 2007 (36 cases) than others. The most frequent cause of death was asphyxia (48 cases), followed by injury (28 cases) and infections (20 cases). Conclusion: We detected that most of the causes of childhood deaths were due to preventable reasons.