Anaphylactic deaths : A retrospective study of forensic autopsy cases from 2009 to 2019 in Shanghai, China

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd..

Anaphylaxis is a rare but well-known cause of sudden unexpected death, although data from forensic autopsies in anaphylactic deaths are limited. Herein, a retrospective study of a series of allergic deaths from 2009 through 2019 in Shanghai, China, was conducted to investigate the demographic, medical, and forensic pathological characteristics of fatal anaphylaxis to improve medicolegal understanding on anaphylactic death. Sixty-two autopsy cases of anaphylactic death were registered in this study. Males dominated the cases (74.2%) against females (25.8%), with an average age of 38.8 years. Medications (98.4%), particularly antibiotics (72.6%), were the most frequent cause of anaphylaxis, and 44 cases (71.0%) occurred in clinics administered illegally by unlicensed clinicians. The anaphylactic symptoms began within a few minutes to less than 1 h in 53 cases, with dyspnea (56.5%) and sudden shock (46.8%) being the most common clinical signs. Thirty cases (48.4%) of anaphylaxis resulted in death within 1 h. Laryngeal edema and multiple tissue eosinophil infiltration (85.5%) were the most prevalent autopsy findings, followed by pulmonary edema and congestion (24.2%), which were considered to be non-specific but suggestive. The comorbidities were mainly cardiovascular disease (33.9%), pneumonia (8.1%) and asthma (8.1%). Serum IgE were measured in 11 of 62 cases, ranging from 43.3 to 591 IU/ml, severed as a helpful marker. Therefore, we suggested a thorough analysis of allergen exposure, clinical history and autopsy findings is required for the diagnosis of anaphylactic death currently.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:10

Enthalten in:

Heliyon - 10(2024), 6 vom: 30. März, Seite e28049

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Li, Wen-Xin [VerfasserIn]
Sun, Cheng-Hui [VerfasserIn]
Li, Zheng-Dong [VerfasserIn]
Lin, Jun-Yi [VerfasserIn]
Shao, Yu [VerfasserIn]
Chen, Long [VerfasserIn]
Li, Li-Liang [VerfasserIn]
Ye, Xing [VerfasserIn]
Shen, Yi-Wen [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Allergens
Anaphylactic death
Anaphylaxis
Forensic medicine
Journal Article
Retrospective study

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 23.03.2024

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28049

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM370052811