JPSIM Journal of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine J Pak Soc Intern Med 2709-8729 2710-0804 Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine 10.70302/jpsim.v3i2.2223 jpsim.v3i2.2223 Original Research Critical Appraisal of Unknown Autopsies; A Retrospective Study at Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department, KEMU, Lahore Janjua Muhammad Sarmad sarmadshahid473@gmail.com * Aamat-ul-Fatima Munawwar Ahraf Malik Arif Rasheed Department of Basic Medical Sciences 2Department of Forensic medicine and Toxicology King Edward Medical University *Correspondence: Muhammad Sarmad Janjua (sarmadshahid473@gmail.com) 15 06 2022 2022 3 2 121 123 12 01 2022 11 04 2022 Copyright © 2022 The Author(s) 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective

to determine the demography of critical unknown autopsies among unknown bodies received at department of forensic medicine and toxicology, KEMU Lahore.

 Methodology

This retrospective study took place at Forensic medicine and Toxicology department, KEMU, during January 2019 to December 2019. All the unknown autopsy cases of both genders brought during this period were included in the study excluding the known ones.

 Results

The peak age of the deceased came out to be between 30 to 45 years with a conspicuous preponderance of males being observed in these cases (86.3%). Conduction of autopsy for majority of the cases was completed within 10 days of the reception of the unknown bodies. Natural death (76%) due to long standing systemic disease remained the major cause of death, while among the unnatural causes, head trauma stood on the top (7.5%). Financial cost calculated came out to be 5000 PKR per case. Majority of this population comprises of street dwellers and drug addicts coming from different areas.

 Conclusion

Demographic characteristics like expected age, gender and cause of death could be ruled out. Addicts and street dwellers remained the top concern amongst unknown autopsy.

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