Burn Deaths in Females of Reproductive Age: An Autopsy Study

Fire was perhaps, man's first double-edged sword, for throughout history, it has served as well destroyed mankind. Burns have tremendous medicolegal importance as they may be considered to be the commonest cause of unnatural death in India¹. Women are victims of iniquity not only outside but inside home too. In this study total 270 cases of female deaths were explored. Most commonly affected age group was of young aged Female of 21–25 yrs (31.11%) followed by 26–30 yrs (25.55%). Most of the victims were young adults in their early married years. Most of them were housewives of Hindu families of lower middle socio-economic class. Burns due to flame were commonest involving (66.30%) of the cases, followed by kerosene burns (31.11%). 82.6% cases were of married females and most of victims (57.41%) survived for a period of 1–7 days. The most of victims (44.81%) sustained 51–75% burns followed by 76–100% burns (43.33%). Most common manner of death was accidental burns 198 (73.33%) followed by Suicide deaths i.e. 64 (23.70%).