Descriptive study to elucidate backgrounds of solitary deaths using medico-legal documents

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K21084
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0908:Society medicine, nursing, and related fields
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: Yamasaki Yukie 岡山大学, 医歯薬学域, 助教 (60444676)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 孤独死 / 看取り / 法医解剖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We aim to clarify the risk factors of solitary deaths and plan effective preventive measures by detailed analysis of cases of solitary deaths in one area using medico-legal documents. We extracted cases of deaths at home from forensic autopsy cases. A detailed investigation was conducted on each case. The time from death to discovery was calculated and cases were divided into groups of less than 3 days and groups of 3 days or longer.
Those in the 3 days or longer group were male, unemployed, and without certification of long-term care need and lived alone, suggesting they were socially isolated. Factors that cases living alone can be detected early include regular visits for nursing care or by relatives. Cases living alone and under the age of 65 were mostly employed, that makes easier for co-workers to notice abnormalities.

Free Research Field

法医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

高齢化社会の進行とともに、独居高齢者が増加し、孤独死はこれから増加していくと考えられる。その中で、独居でも安心して生活できるような地域の仕組みづくりのための知見が得られたと考えている。例えば、独居でも早期に発見される要因として定期的な訪問があることがあげられ、介護、配食といった定期的なサービスを受けることで異変に早く気付くことができる。また、郵便物の堆積などの異変に地域住民が気付いたのが発見のきっかけとなったことも多かったことから、地域と関わりが希薄な人であっても、地域での見守りといった対策によって死後早期に発見できる可能性が示唆された。