2015-12-142016-01Morris, NK, Du Toit-Prinsloo, L & Saayman, G 2016, 'Drowning in Pretoria, South Africa : a 10-year review', Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 37, pp. 66-70.10.1016/j.jflm.2015.10.0101752-928X (print)1878-7487 (online)http://hdl.handle.net/2263/51183Drowning is classified as the 3rd leading cause of accidental deaths worldwide and is deemed to be a preventable cause of death. Bodies retrieved from a water medium pose several challenges to the forensic pathologist with the diagnosis of drowning being primarily one of exclusion. The aim of this study was to do a retrospective descriptive case audit of bodies retrieved from water and immersion related deaths, which were investigated at the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory (PMLL) over a 10 year period (January 2002 through December 2011). A total of 346 cases were identified for inclusion into this study. In 6% (20) of these cases, the death was not related to drowning; in 14% (48) no clear cause of death could be ascertained and in 278 cases (80%) the cause of death was considered to have been due to drowning. Infants (under 1 year, of age) constituted 41 (15%) of the cases; toddlers (aged 1e2 years) comprised 52 (19%) cases; children (aged 2e13 years) 49 (18%) cases; adolescents (aged 13e18 years) comprised 10 (3%) cases; adults (above 18, years) made up 126 (45%) of the cases. The majority of the drownings, occurred in swimming pools [125 cases (38%)]. In infants 23 (56%) of, drownings occurred in swimming pools followed by buckets [7 cases (17%)]. Sixty-nine per cent of toddler drownings (36 cases) occurred in swimming, pools. In the adult population, 40 (32%) of cases occurred in pools and 35 cases (28%) in rivers. Positive blood alcohol results were recorded in 48, (42%) out of 113 cases where the test was requested, 40 (35%) of these, cases higher than 0.05 g per 100 ml. This study suggests that many drowning deaths in Pretoria may be preventable by introducing greater public awareness of the risks and instituting relatively simple, protective measures.en© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 37, pp. 66-70, 2016. doi : 10.1016/j.jflm.2015.10.010.Bodies retrieved from waterChildhood deathsDrowningEmhysema aquosumHemolytic staining of the aortaMedico-legal investigation of deathHealth sciences articles SDG-03SDG-03: Good health and well-beingHealth sciences articles SDG-11SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communitiesPostprint Article