Abstract
Globally, children are victims of untimely and premature deaths due to various causes ranging from illness and accidents to homicide. Additionally, almost three million cases of child abuse are reported annually in the United States. The New Mexico Decedent Image Database provides information on mortality patterns for individuals in the State of New Mexico, along with associated demographic information and medical histories. The main objective of this study is to use this Database to assess the
number of deaths seen in juvenile males and females between birth and 12 years of age along with their corresponding primary cause of death, associated manner of the death, and relevant demographic information and compare these data to local and national standards. The secondary objective is to explore any possible relationships between the primary causes/manners of death that suggest abuse (e.g., assault, homicide) and previous medical history for the individual to identify possible cases of previous (i.e., antemortem) abuse in the decedent’s history.
A subset of 404 individuals of both sexes, male and female, was extracted from the Database along with 34 different primary causes of death. Results show that primary causes of death with at least ten deceased subadults are: asphyxiation, congenital defect, drowning, gunshot wound, head and neck injuries, intrauterine fetal death (stillborn), multiple injuries (lacerations and fractures), pneumonia, and sepsis. These data align with national level statistics on subadult mortality patterns.
To address the secondary objective of this study, the corresponding medical records were reviewed for several individuals who had a suspicious cause and manner of death. Six subadults were found to have suffered previous broken bones, facial trauma and/or medical procedures suggestive of a history of nonaccidental trauma or child abuse. Most of these cases were females and most were under the age of four, which partially supports previous finding that most victims of abuse are males and children under the age of three.