Citation

Liu S, Yu Y, Huang Q, Luo B, Liao X. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 2014; 35(3): 193-196.

Affiliation

From the *Department of Forensic Pathology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou; †Forensic Science Center of Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, Guangzhou, Guangdong; and ‡Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, People's Republic of China.This work was supported by a grant from the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province (no. 2010B031000006).The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PAF.0000000000000072

PMID

24932705

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of low-voltage electrocution deaths in Guangdong, China. Three thousand three hundred seventy autopsy reports from the Department of Forensic Pathology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, over a period of 10 years (2001-2010) were reviewed, of which 71 low-voltage electrocution cases were identified. The descriptive statistical analyses were carried out with the application of SPSS 19.0 software. Electrocution accounted for 2.11% of all autopsied cases. The age range was 3 to 57 years with a mean age of 31.77 ± 11.0 years. The average age of male victims was 33.08 ± 10.77 years, and that of female victims was 22.63 ± 11.06 years. The majority of the victims (87.33%) were male. Among the circumstances leading to electrocution, most of them occurred in factory and in the street. Considering the contact details, deaths were caused most frequently by touching electrical wires (n = 27, 38.02%), followed by touching charged machine (n = 20, 28.17%). There were no suicide and homicide cases. Of all electrocution cases, 50.70% occurred during the summer period from June through August. The upper extremity was the most frequently involved contact site (59.72%). No electrical burn marks were present in 14 cases (19.72%). Our results indicated that most deaths from electrocution occur more often in factories, in summer seasons, and to young male workers, which can help in the development of a differentiated strategy for the prevention of electrocution, while taking into consideration sex, age, occupation, and season of the year.

Language: en