Deaths among homeless people in Istanbul

The number of the homeless people in Istanbul, one of the largest cities in the world, is at present unknown. There has been no previous study in Turk ey on cases and causes of death occurring among these individuals. In this paper, documents and autopsy reports of the Mortuary Section of the Council of Forensic Medicine, Istanbul, covering the period January 1st, 1991-Dece mber 31st, 1995, were reviewed. We established that there were 126 cases of death among homeless individuals in Istanbul during this period, 120 of th em being males (95%), four (3%) females, and two (2%) transsexuals. Ninety- four corpses were found outdoors, 32 indoors. No personal documents, such a s identity cards, were found in 110 individuals (87%), whereas only 16 indi viduals could be identified. Most deaths occurred in the age group of 41-50 years. One hundred and three of the cases (82%) died in the cold season be tween October and April. The deaths of 98 cases were attributable to natura l causes, whereas the remaining 28 cases died from unnatural causes. Respir atory tract diseases occupied the first rank among cases of death from natu ral causes (44%). Alcohol abuse and other infections were further striking factors contributing to the fatal outcome. This is the first retrospective study on this topic in Turkey. However, more detailed and anterospectively programmed studies on this subject, a growing social problem, should be car ried out. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.