Faqir Ullah, Mian Saad Ahmed, Muhammad Yousaf, Rizwan Zafar Ansari, Khalid Aslam, Sahibdad Khan.
Fatal Firearm Injuries: Pattern and its Association with a few Demographic Factors.
J Sharif Med Dent Coll Jan ;6(1):21-5.

Objective: To determine the pattern of fatal firearm injuries and its association with a few demographic factors. Methodology: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 324 subjects in Forensic Medicine Department, Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. A pre-designed autopsy proforma was used to extract all the relevant information including demographic data, while autopsy examination was done to identify two firearms patterns, namely the number of shots and velocity of bullet. Descriptive statistics were used for numerical and categorical variables while chi-square test was applied to look for association. A p-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Out of total study subjects, 83% were males and the most common age of presentation was 21-30 years with 35.5% cases followed by 31-40 years with 19.1% cases while 0-10 years and more than 70 years were least common with only 1.2% cases. Among the cases 54.6% had multiple shots, 59% were shot by a high-velocity weapon and in locality distribution, 74.4% cases were rural based. Age group and gender had a significant association with the number of shots with a p-value of<0.05 while locality had no significant relationship with both firearm patterns. Both firearm patterns, number of shots and velocity of bullet were strongly associated with a p-value of<0.001. Conclusion: The study concluded that middle-aged males were more prone to homicidal deaths. Homicidal deaths were more common in rural areas, using high-velocity weapons and having multiple shots. Age and gender were significantly associated with the number of shots. A significant relationship was recorded withing the pattern of firearms. Keywords: Homicide. Firearms. Weaponry patterns. High-velocity weapon. Number of shots.

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