Accidental childhood fatalities in Manipal, India

Abstract

Children in the first decade of life are extremely vulnerable to accidents. Seventy-five cases of accidental deaths in children aged less than ten years were identified in a retrospective review of medicolegal autopsies during 1993–2006 in Manipal, India. Boys were more likely to suffer accidental death that girls (male–female ratio 2.3:1). Road traffic accidents accounted for the majority of the deaths (56%), followed by burns (21.4%).