Fatal burn injuries: A five year retrospective autopsy study in Cairo city, Egypt

Burn deaths are an important public health problem in a developing country like Egypt. The purpose of this study was to record and evaluate the causes and the magnitude of the fatal burn injuries retrospectively. An analysis of autopsy records revealed 106 (2.66%) cases of burn injuries among the total autopsies done over 5 years period (2006–2010) in the mortuary of Forensic Medicine Institute, Cairo. The majority of deaths (66.1%) occurred between 11 and 50 years of age group with a preponderance of males (67%). The flame burns were seen in 96.2% of the victims. The majority of burn incidents were accidental (55.7%) in nature followed by suicidal (22.6%) and homicidal (21.7%) deaths. The percentages of burns (TBSA) over 50% were observed in most of the cases (83%). Clear signs of vitality were found in 67% of the victims. The majority of deaths occurred within a week (82%) and most of the victims died from neurogenic shock (54.7%) followed by Septicemia & pneumonia (23.5%). The results of this study provide the necessary information to develop proper burn prevention programs, thereby reducing the frequency of burns and burn-related deaths.