Unnatural deaths among female children and adolescents in Western India

Burns is the leading cause of death in married females, while unintentional injuries are more common in female children. The aim of this study was to determine the various causes of unnatural deaths among female children in a tertiary health center of western India.

The present autopsy based prospective study was conducted in a tertiary health center of Gujarat and the cases of death of female children, which were brought to us for autopsy examination during the one year period from January to December 2008 were analyzed.

The incidences of female children death were 3.5% of the total autopsies conducted during the one year period of this study. The most susceptible age group was between 16–19 years of age and burns (31.6% cases) were the leading cause of death followed by RTAs (26.6% cases). In majority of the cases, the manner of death was accidental (63.3%) and suicidal (31.6%) in nature.

The present study revealed that the incidences of unnatural deaths in female children were found to increase with the age, especially in teenage girls and most of them suffered from an accidental injury due to burns and RTAs, which are preventable.