Correlation of Internal Organ Weights with Body Weight and Body Height in Normal Adult Zambians: A Case Study of Ndola Teaching Hospital

Kasonde Bowa,Lumamba Mubbunu,Volodymyer Petrenko,Moono Silitongo

doi:10.1155/2018/4687538

Abstract

The objective of the research was to study the correlation of internal organ weights with body weight and length in normal adult Zambians. The study involved 114 (83 males and 31 females) forensic autopsies from Ndola Teaching Hospital done over a period of 12 months. The cases included autopsies of unnatural deaths including road traffic accidents and homicide. Cases where information about age and origin of the person was not available were left out of the study. The age of the decedents ranged from 16 to 85 years. The data was analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient to determine correlation. P values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. It was observed that the heart, liver, left kidney, right kidney, brain, and left lung were positively correlated to body weight, while only the brain and the left lung were positively correlated to the height in the male population. In the female population, the heart, liver, right kidney, brain, and right lung were positively correlated to the weight of the body, while only the right kidney was positively correlated to the height of the body.

Highlights

The weight of internal organs is important in forensic medicine and pathology, because the weight of internal organs is useful in determining whether the organ is normal or pathological
The sample population for this study was made up of people who had died in road traffic accidents and homicide cases that were brought to Ndola Teaching Hospital for autopsy. 114 cases were selected for the study: 31 females and 83 males
It was observed that the heart, liver, left kidney, right kidney, brain, and left lung were positively correlated to body weight, while only the brain and the left lung were positively correlated to the height in the male population

Summary

Introduction

The weight of internal organs is important in forensic medicine and pathology, because the weight of internal organs is useful in determining whether the organ is normal or pathological. The weight of internal organs can be a good diagnostic criteria for interpreting autopsy information if the weights of internal organs are compared to the appropriate reference weights [7, 8] This means that normality for the weight of internal organs in a given population should be accurately defined. One of the ways to define this data is to Anatomy Research International generate reference tables for that population, meaning the average weight to be used as reference information should be generated from the people of that population Another method that can be used to normalize the information is correlation of internal organ weights to body length and body weight. The current work was undertaken to study the average weight of Zambian population and correlate the weight of internal organs with body weight and height

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion