Exploring time of death from potassium, sodium, chloride, glucose & calcium analysis of postmortem synovial fluid in semi arid climate

•The rate of change in biochemical parameters in postmortem samples is environment driven.•Potassium in postmortem synovial fluid sample showed significant variation with time of death in semi-acid climate.•Negative correlation was found with sodium & glucose level in synovial samples with time of death.•No significant relationship with time of death was found with respect to calcium and chloride levels.

Estimation of time of death (TOD) with fair accuracy from postmortem changes still remains an important but difficult task to be performed by every autopsy surgeon under different climatic conditions. The environment plays an important role in the process of decomposition and thereby affecting the levels of electrolytes and other biochemical parameters in the postmortem samples. Since, there is limited information available on the levels of these biochemical parameters from semi arid environment, the present study was aimed to explore time of death by analyzing electrolyte, glucose and calcium levels of postmortem synovial fluid collected from samples under such climatic conditions. The synovial fluid samples from two hundred and ten bodies brought to University College of Medical Sciences and associated Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital Delhi for medico-legal postmortem examination, during the period of November 2010 to April 2012, were analyzed for potassium, sodium, chloride, glucose and calcium. Univariate regression analysis of electrolyte concentrations of synovial fluid showed significant positive relationship between time of death and potassium (r = 0.840, p = 0.000). However, there was negative relationship between time of death and sodium (r = −0.175, p = 0.011) & glucose (r = −0.427, p = 0.000) and no significant relationship was found between time of death and calcium (r = 0.099, p = 0.152) & chloride (r = 0.082, p = 0.24) among the samples analyzed.