Unnatural deaths in childhood and adolescence in Istanbul (Türkiye) between 2019 and 2023

Although preventive and therapeutic medical efforts to prevent unnatural child and adolescent deaths have made significant progress in reducing the rates of these deaths, high unnatural child and adolescent mortality rates remain a significant child and adolescent health problem. This study aims to identify patterns of injury that result in unnatural deaths among children and adolescents, describe previously underreported cases of unnatural deaths within the Istanbul population, and explore potential preventive measures.

Morgue Department autopsy reports between 2019 and 2023 were retrospectively reviewed, and 926 unnatural death cases of people aged ≤18 years were compared by classifying them according to years, seasons and months, age, gender, cause of death, place of death, scene of the accident, and duration of hospitalization.

The main causes of unnatural deaths in children and adolescents, which were particularly prevalent in the summer months (34.7 %), were falls (27.3 %), traffic accidents (25.6 %), and asphyxia (24.6 %). Unnatural deaths were determined to especially affect male children (65.6 %) over the age of 14 and Turkish citizens (42.7 %), and female children (43.9 %) under the age of 4 and foreign nationals (47.1 %) were the most frequently exposed to unnatural deaths.

The majority of these unnatural deaths are preventable, and most of them can be avoided by taking courageous and determined action and creating the required functional, legal, supervisory, and educational processes.