DEATHS FROM HEMOASPIRATION IN COSTA RICA IN 2015
Keywords:
Hemoaspiration, airway blood aspirationAbstract
Airway blood aspiration is a frequent result in trauma patient autopsies; it’s generally associated with skull base fractures with naso and oropharynx. Acute pulmonary hemorrhage prior to death can appear as bleeding in lower airways in traumatic and non-traumatic cases. Occasionally it can also appear in upper respiratory airways as well. In this study we evaluate blood aspiration in dead victims. A total of 3148 victims deceased in 2015, 37 had pulmonary or lower airway hemorrhage as a forensic diagnose, a higher incidence in males was found with ages between 21 and 30 years, followed by males between 31 and 40 years old. The peak incidence was in the months of April and December, which are months with a high amount of holidays in Costa Rica, the predominant cause of death was accidental, followed by homicide and suicide.
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