ArticleForensic science, medicine, and pathology2021
Correlation of age, sex and season with the state of human decomposition as quantified by postmortem computed tomography.
Article in Forensic science, medicine, and pathology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Medico-legal interpretations of gas on postmortem CT: a scoping review.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Molecular forensics: RNA degradation as a marker for postmortem interval determination.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- The impact of age and insects factors on cadaver microbial communities and application to postmortem interval Estimation.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Seasonal decomposition and the effect of clothing in Cape Town, South Africa.Journal of forensic sciences · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Muscle Proteins for Estimating the Post-Mortem Interval in Veterinary Forensic Pathology.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dead bodies exhibit a variable range of changes with advancing decomposition. To quantify intracorporeal gas, the radiological alteration index (RAI) has been implemented in the assessment of postmortem whole-body computed tomography. We used this RAI as a proxy for the state of decomposition. This study aimed to (I) investigate the correlation between the state of decomposition and the season in which the body was discovered; and (II) evaluate the correlations between sociodemographic factors (age, sex) and the state of decomposition, by using the RAI as a proxy for the extent of decomposition. In a retrospective study, we analyzed demographic data from all autopsy reports from the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Zurich between January 2017 to July 2019 and evaluated the radiological alteration index from postmortem whole-body computed tomography for each case. The bodies of older males showed the highest RAI. Seasonal effects had no significant influence on the RAI in our urban study population with bodies mostly being discovered indoors. Autopsy reports contain valuable data that allow interpretation for reasons beyond forensic purposes, such as sociopolitical observations.
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