THE ROLE OF HEAD INJURIES IN THANATOGENESIS, IN THE CASUISTRY OF THE FORENSIC DEPARTMENT OF SIBIU COUNTY, 2018-2022

S. Morar, E. Topîrcean,

Abstract: Head injuries represent a frequent pathology worldwide, with important morbidity and mortality and a significant impact on public health.
Objective. Our study provides an overview of head injuries with lethal outcomes in Sibiu County, over a period of five years, aimed at identifying the population group at risk.
Material and method. We conducted a retrospective observational-analytical study, carried out during 2018-2022, on the casuistry of the Forensic Department of Sibiu County. We focused on 337 violent deaths, in which head injuries either had a decisive thanatogenic role or had only a contributory role in the lethal outcome.
Results. The analyzed deaths accounted for a third (33.03%) of all violent deaths, and 14.88% of the entire casuistry respectively. We found that the population group at risk had the following characteristics: males (78.93%, gender ratio M/F 3.74:1), aged between over 50 years (with an average of 54.6 years), from rural areas (specific rate of 150.43/100,000 inhabitants, compared to only 63.93/100,000 inhabitants in urban areas), with acute alcohol consumption that preceded the traumatic event (in 33.15% of the cases). Most of them were accidental deaths (96.16%) and the most frequent circumstances of death were falling or falling from a height (51.03%) or road traffic events (40.05%).
Conclusions. The data provided by the present study can suggest specific prophylactic measures aimed at reducing the incidence of these avoidable deaths.
Keywords: forensic pathology, autopsy, head injuries, epidemiology, death circumstances.