Autopsies on children at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Munich from 1989 to 2013. Retrospective analysis of homicides on children

作者：Fraas S^*; Schoepfer J; Penning R; Muetzel E

来源：Rechtsmedizin, 2015, 25(3): 214-221.

DOI：10.1007/s00194-015-0011-z

• Infanticide
• Homicide
• Suicide
• Age distribution
• Cause of death

Infanticide exists in all cultures and social classes and is one of the leading causes of death in children worldwide. Knowledge of predictors and risk factors is rudimentary and there is also a lack of systematic recording of infanticides.
The autopsy data of children up to 15 years old carried out between 1989 and 2013 at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Munich were analyzed retrospectively. Demographic data from the Bavarian State Office for Statistics were used for comparative purposes.
In the study period 1847 autopsies were carried out on children under 15 years old which results in a prevalence of 0.66/100,000 children. The leading group was newborns and infants with 45 %. The leading cause of death was drowning (37 %), followed by head injuries (23 %) and exsanguination as a result of sharp force injuries (12 %). In cases where information regarding the perpetrator was available, all newborns were killed by the mother and in the other age groups most of the perpetrators were one of the parents.
The prevalence of infanticide in this study is comparable to that of other European countries. The majority of children were under the age of 1 year old (45 %), which is consistent with the literature whereby younger children constitute the group most at risk. The leading cause was drowning which is difficulty to determine especially in infants where sudden infant death syndrome is a possible differential diagnosis. Therefore, it must be assumed that there are a high number of unreported cases.

• 出版日期2015-6