Análise médico-legal de 553 casos suspeitos de afogamento.

Introduction: Drowning is defined by a situation of primary respiratory insufficiency produced by immersion or submersion in a liquid. Brazil is the third country in the world with the highest number of drowning deaths and the study of these deaths is important to delimit its epidemiological profile. Objectives: To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of fatal drowning cases necropsied at IML-BH. Methods: A cross-sectional study of autopsy reports performed at IML-BH between 2006 and 2012. Results: A total of 533 reports were analyzed whose death circumstance involved drowning. In 76.9% the cause of death was exclusively drowning, in 2.3% the cause was drowning associated with some traumatism and in 20.8% the cause of death remained undetermined after the autopsy. There was a predominance of men, browns and singles, and the mean age was 27.2 years. Almost one third of the cases were under the age of 18 years. Most of the deaths occurred in ponds or dams, and most of the victims did not receive medical care prior to death. The main external signs in necropsies were the presence of earthy residues in the bodies, foam in the airways, subepicardial and subpleural petechiae, and blood with increased fluidity and darkened color. In cases where the blood alcohol concentration was investigated, it was positive in 38.5%, with a mean of 21dg/dL. Conclusions: IML-BH data add important epidemiological information for the study of fatal drowning victims, and may guide possible measures to prevent these fatalities.