PREVALENCE OF HANGING DEATHS IN FORENSIC CASES IN KABUL - AFGHANISTAN
Keywords:
Prevalence, Hanging-deaths, KFMSC.Abstract
Background
Hanging is defined as complete or partial body suspension by a ligature tied around the neck and force of constriction on the neck applied by the body's weight hanging. It can occur in a sitting, semi-sitting, or fully reclined position. In addition to hard, semi-hard, and soft ligatures, hanging can happen with tree branches, poles, etc. Depending on the type of ligature locations, hanging is divided into two categories, which can occur typically or atypically [1]. So, this study aims to evaluate the Prevalence of hanging deaths in forensic cases at Kabul city referred to the Kabul Forensic Medicine Service Center (KFMSC) from 2020 to 2022.
Methods and Materials
This is a descriptive or cross-sectional study, which was conducted on death cases (2020-2022) that were referred to the (KFMSC). As secondary data, data was collected from the post-mortem department and analyzed using SPSS-26.
Results
According to this study, out of a total of 3,895 cases of death during the years (2020-2022) that were referred to the (KFMSC), 171 cases (4.39%) were due to hanging. Among these 171 cases, 112 cases (65.09%) were among women and 59 cases (34.91%) were among men. According to age, most cases, 97 (56.72%) were among young people aged 18 to 40. Regarding the location of the ligature's knot, 92 cases (53.80%) were at the back of the neck. In 90 cases (52.64%) didn’t have any mechanical and physical trauma signs.
Conclusion
Based on this study, the majority of the hanging cases were women and young people. In most cases, the position of the ligature's knot is in the back of the neck, and an external examination has been done; in most cases, there were no signs of mechanical or physical trauma.
