Deaths among homeless people in Istanbul

Küçük Resim Yok

Tarih

1999

Dergi Başlığı

Dergi ISSN

Cilt Başlığı

Yayıncı

Elsevier Sci Ireland Ltd

Erişim Hakkı

info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess

Özet

The number of the homeless people in Istanbul, one of the largest cities in the world, is at present unknown. There has been no previous study in Turkey on cases and causes of death occurring among these individuals. In this paper, documents and autopsy reports of the Mortuary Section of the Council of Forensic Medicine, Istanbul, covering the period January 1st, 1991-December 31st, 1995, were reviewed. We established that there were 126 cases of death among homeless individuals in Istanbul during this period, 120 of them being males (95%), four (3%) females, and two (2%) transsexuals. Ninety-four corpses were found outdoors, 32 indoors. No personal documents, such as identity cards, were found in 110 individuals (87%), whereas only 16 individuals could be identified. Most deaths occurred in the age group of 41-50 years. One hundred and three of the cases (82%) died in the cold season between October and April. The deaths of 98 cases were attributable to natural causes, whereas the remaining 28 cases died from unnatural causes. Respiratory tract diseases occupied the first rank among cases of death from natural causes (44%). Alcohol abuse and other infections were further striking factors contributing to the fatal outcome. This is the first retrospective study on this topic in Turkey. However, more detailed and anterospectively programmed studies on this subject, a growing social problem, should be carried out. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Açıklama

Anahtar Kelimeler

Homeless, Death, Autopsy, Mortality

Kaynak

Forensic Science International

WoS Q Değeri

Q2

Scopus Q Değeri

Q1

Cilt

99

Sayı

2

Künye