BURN INJURY-RELATED DEATHS IN SENIORS

At the Institute for Legal Medicine in Hamburg (investigation period 1 983 to 1993) post mortem examinations were carried out in 45 elder peo ple (> 60 years) who died from major burns. This retrospective epidemi ologic and descriptive study evaluates the factors associated with acc idents and suicides in relation to the burn surface area, burn depth, location, the cause of death in the burn victims and carbon monoxide o r cyanide gas poisoning. Severe burn injuries were the most common cau se of death (41 %), and in the majority of our cases the traumatic sho ck led to death during the first two hours. The accidents occurred at home, and were frequently connected with alcoholism and chronic diseas es.