XXXX in Pretoria, South Africa: A 10-year review.

@entity1 @entity14481 @entity204
UNASSIGNED: @entity14481 is classified as the 3rd leading cause of @entity204 worldwide and is deemed to be a preventable cause of @entity204 . Bodies retrieved from a water medium pose several challenges to the forensic pathologist with the diagnosis of drowning being primarily one of exclusion. The aim of this study was to do a retrospective descriptive case audit of bodies retrieved from water and immersion related @entity204 , which were investigated at the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory (PMLL) over a 10 year period (January 2002 through December 2011). A total of 346 cases were identified for inclusion into this study. In 6% (20) of these cases, the @entity204 was not related to drowning; in 14% (48) no clear cause of @entity204 could be ascertained and in 278 cases (80%) the cause of @entity204 was considered to have been due to drowning. @entity1 (under 1 year, of age) constituted 41 (15%) of the cases; toddlers (aged 1-2 years) comprised 52 (19%) cases; @entity1 (aged 2-13 years) 49 (18%) cases; adolescents (aged 13-18 years) comprised 10 (3%) cases; adults (above 18, years) made up 126 (45%) of the cases. The majority of the drownings, occurred in swimming pools [125 cases (38%)]. In @entity1 23 (56%) of, drownings occurred in swimming pools followed by buckets [7 cases (17%)]. Sixty-nine per cent of toddler drownings (36 cases) occurred in swimming, pools. In the adult population, 40 (32%) of cases occurred in pools and 35 cases (28%) in rivers. Positive blood alcohol results were recorded in 48, (42%) out of 113 cases where the test was requested, 40 (35%) of these, cases higher than 0.05  g per 100  ml. This study suggests that many @entity204 in Pretoria may be preventable by introducing greater public awareness of the risks and instituting relatively simple, protective measures.
