Comparative analysis of the volume and structure of non-violent death in St. Petersburg and Novgorod region over the past 5 years

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to study the dynamics of the volume and structure of forensic medical research on cases of non-violent death in the Russian Federation for the period from 2016 to 2020 using the example of two regions of the Federation that differ in socio-economic terms. The material for the study was the annual reports of the «St. Medical Examination» and «Novgorod Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination». It was established that during the study period in St. Petersburg and the Novgorod region, non-violent death was dominant in the structure of forensic medical examinations of corpses, accounting for about 80%. The leading place was occupied by diseases of the circulatory system and neoplasms, they were more common among residents of the Novgorod region. A positive fact was that since 2016, the residents of the Novgorod region, in contrast to the residents of St. Petersburg, there has been a trend towards a decrease in the number of deaths from diseases of the cardiovascular system. Mortality from oncological diseases increased from year to year in both subjects of the Federation. The most rare causes of death were infectious diseases and diseases of the nervous system. For both groups of diseases, higher mortality was also among residents of the Novgorod region. Both in St. Petersburg and in the Novgorod region there was a gradual decrease in the total number of cases of stillbirths and deaths of children under the age of 1 year. For the entire study period, this indicator, as for most diseases, was higher in the Novgorod region. In the year of the spread of a new coronavirus infection, mortality from most non-communicable diseases increased.