Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39820405›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2025

Effects of cold exposure in a confined environment: an original case of suicide by freezing.

Adeline Blanchot, Thibault Willaume, Elisa Macoin, Annie Geraut, Marie-Claire Tortel, Anne Gressel, Pascal Kintz, Jean-Sébastien Raul, Catherine Cannet

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In one paragraph

Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Adeline BlanchotInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France. adeline.blanchot@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3110-2168
Thibault WillaumeRadiology Department, Strasbourg University Hospitals, 1 Place de l'Hôpital, Strasbourg, 67000, France.
Elisa MacoinInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.
Annie GerautInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.
Marie-Claire TortelInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.
Anne GresselInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.
Pascal KintzInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.
Jean-Sébastien RaulInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.
Catherine CannetInstitute of Legal Medicine, Strasbourg University, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67085, France.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The authors present a case involving a 37-year-old woman discovered in an operating freezer. Suicide hypothesis has been considered from the beginning. Due to the exceptional scene circumstances, a forensic autopsy was performed. Apart from some non-specific hypothermia and asphyxia signs, the autopsy revealed several skull fractures, prompting extensive anatomopathological and histological analyses. These analyses confirmed the fractures origin and determined whether they were ante-mortem or post-mortem, thus ruling out the possibility of a criminal act disguised as suicide. The authors also describe the challenges in determining the cause of death, particularly the issues related to the post-mortem diagnosis of lethal hypothermia and asphyxia. This case is the first in the literature to describe suicide by exposure to cold in a confined environment. It highlights the importance of close collaboration between forensic pathologists, histologists, toxicologists, and police investigators to answer judicial inquiries.

Indexed as

Cold TemperatureConfined SpacesFreezingHypothermiaSuicide, CompletedAdultAsphyxiaFemaleForensic PathologyHumansSkull FracturesBone histologyFreezingHypothermiaSkull fractureSuicide

Identifiers

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.