Child Fatalities in Dammam: A Call for Child Fatality Reviews in Arab Countries |
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| Authors: | Dalia Mohammed Alsaif MBBS SBFLM Osama M Almadani MD PhD FFFLM Salah Ali Almoghannam MD Dina Hamdi MBBS Maram A Al‐Farayedhi MBBS SBFLM |
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| Affiliation: | Center of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Ministry of health, Dammam, Saudi Arabia 31176 |
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| Abstract: | Identifying children's risk exposure is the first step toward mortality prevention. This retrospective study determined the causes of child fatalities in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Death reports of children and adolescents from 1999 to 2015 (N = 157) were analyzed. Boys represented most cases (69%) and there were two age peaks (1–5 years and 16–18 years). Accidents (typically immersion) defined the main death circumstance (51%) followed by homicide (25%). Only 33% of cases underwent autopsy, and the most common cause of death was head injury (27%) followed by firearm injury. Only one immersion death underwent autopsy. This study revealed important data about the risk exposure of children in Dammam and emphasizes deficient investigative procedures. Child fatality reviews comprise systematic data collection by multidisciplinary teams to determine the true risks toward children in a community. Such teams do not exist in Arab countries; therefore, strategies should be implemented to initiate them. |
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| Keywords: | forensic science forensic pathology child mortality Saudi Arabia Arab countries cause of death |
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