Analysis of 574 cases of high-fall death

Objective: To establish a database of high-fall death cases for future forensic study and practice, based on the scene investigation, injury characteristics and other informations. Methods: Five hundred and four cases of high-fall death from 5 provinces and cities were included in the study. Data including personal information of the deceased, scene investigation, autopsy findings, history of mental illness and the results of toxicology were collected and analyzed. Results: The male accidental death rate was significantly higher than that of female. No case of suicide was found in the 0-10 age group, while the suicide rate was apparently higher in the 60 years or over age group than that of accident. Most of the accident cases occurred at workplace, with head landing first and foot or lower-extremity landing first observed from height below 10 m and between 10-25 m, respectively. Conclusion: The majority of cases have obvious conclusions. A substantial set of the cases, however, is still difficult to determine the mechanism of injury and the manner of death. So further study should be performed.