Child and elderly victims in forensic autopsy during a recent 5 year period in the southern half of Osaka city and surrounding areas

To outline the recent features of child and elderly victims from the medico -legal perspective with special reference to abuse and neglect, a retrospec tive investigation of forensic autopsy cases over a 5 year period (1994-199 8) in the southern half of Osaka city and surrounding areas (a population o f 1.57 million) was undertaken. Among 646 autopsy cases, there were 53 chil d cases (under the age of 15 pears, about 80% below 6) and 121 elderly case s (65 years old and above). Nearly half of the child deaths and more than h alf of the elderly deaths were described as accidental. Fire and traffic vi ctims were much more frequent in the elderly. Child victims included those of neonaticide/infanticide (n = 6), physical abuse (n = 10), unintentional fatal infliction (n = 2), neglect (n = 2), mutual suicide (II = 2), suicide (n = 1) and murder (n = 3). Child abuse and neglect were domestic maltreat ment nt by the parents. In this series, there was a comparable number of fa talities due to maltreatment in the elderly (n = 13) and in children, and n on-domestic violence was more frequent in the elderly than domestic violenc e. Elderly females tended to be battered by their sons or grandsons in dome stic violence cases, whereas males were predominantly attacked by younger m ales in non-domestic violence. The other elderly victims included those of self-neglect (n = 2), murder (n = 7) and suicide (n = 9). Non-domestic homi cide of the elderly occurred mainly in the center of the city, whereas dome stic maltreatment of children and the elderly was sporadic, although somewh at more frequent in the peripheral tom of the city and the surrounding area s. The above profile of child and elderly abuse suggests a substantial infl uence of social and familial backgrounds. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.