Patterns of homicidal deaths in District Swat

Abstract

Objective: To determine the weaponry pattern of homicidal deaths in cases presented for autopsies at Swat. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, Swat from January 2019 to December 2019. The study opted a sample enrollment based on census based sampling using non-probability consecutive sampling. About 220 subjects of homicidal deaths were taken and studied in detail. A pre-designed questionnaire with demographic details was used as the data collection tool. SPSS v 25.0 was used for descriptive data analysis; frequency and percentages were calculated for categorical variables while mean ± S.D. were applied for numerical variables. Results: Out of total 220 autopsies, in 80% cases cause of death was due to firearm injury, followed by sharp weapons in10%, bomb blast and ligature related deaths in 6%, and blunt trauma in 4% cases. The male to female ratio of homicidal cases showed a male predominance, with 86% male and 14% female cases. The cause of death of these cases showed that 27.72% died from injury to brain, followed by Heart & Lung injuries at 18.64%, and the remaining due to injuries of other organs. Conclusion: Firearm was the common weapon of homicidal deaths with male predominance in district Swat; injury to the brain was the leading cause of death.