Retrospective Analysis of Death due to Burns in Gulbarga Region

Burns represent one of the major health problems in India. Prolonged morbidity & disability due to burns result in economic loss to the individual family, the society & the state.

The present retrospective study has been conducted for the period of 5 consecutive years from 2011–2015 based on autopsy of the unnatural death cases resulting from burns. This study was carried out in the department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology at Khaja Banda Nawaz institute of medical science Gulbarga (North-Karnataka) and includes 156 cases of death due to burns.

Most of the cases were from rural area 119(76.28%) compared to urban 30(19.23). Predominant age group found to be 21–30 years (35.89%) followed by the age group 31-40years (21.79%). Most of the deceased were from the married group 136(83.33%) followed by unmarried 20(12.82%). Manner of burn death was unknown in most of the cases 92(58.97%) followed by accidental burn deaths 56(35.89%), suicidal 6(3.84%) and homicidal 2(1.28%).

It was observed that in 26.92% cases, more than 90% of the body surface area was involved. In 5.1% of the deceased were seen with burns which involved <40% of the body surface area.

Lack of safety measures is an important cause for burns. Awareness campaigns & public education on safer first-aid practices, availability of good burn care facilities in all Government & Private institutions should be available to curb this menace of burn injuries.