The forensic significance of core temperature in identifying primary and secondary hypothermia as a cause of death: A pilot study on Wistar rats

Introduction

Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below 35 °C and can be caused by internal or external stress. Primary hypothermia is caused by excessive exposure to low environmental temperature without any medical conditions prior to that. Secondary hypothermia is caused by alteration in thermoregulation by disease, trauma, surgery, drugs, or infections. The aim of the research is to investigate core temperature values in rats subjected to specific water temperatures at five different time points. It focuses on distinguishing between primary and secondary hypothermia in these rats.

Methods

The total 21 Wistar rats were divided into three experimental groups as: Control group rats exposed only to hypothermic condition (n = 7); Alcohol + hypothermia (n = 7); and Benzodiazepines + hypothermia (n = 7). The temperature spots analyzed in the study were: normal core temperature, core temperature during injection of 0,3 ketamine, temperature of immersion and the temperature at the onset of hypothermia and temperature at the time of death.

Results

In our study the comparative analysis of body temperatures at various time points following submersion in water revealed significant differences among the study groups treated with either alcohol or benzodiazepines and the control group. Notable differences were observed in baseline temperature, post-anesthesia induction temperature, and immediate post-submersion temperature. Specifically, significant differences were discovered among the alcohol and benzodiazepine groups (p < 0.001) and ranging from the alcohol and control groups (p < 0.001). The analysis of survival times following induced hypothermia revealed a statistically significant difference among the three experimental groups (p = 0.04), though subsequent post-hoc comparisons did not demonstrate significant differences in mean survival times.

Conclusion

There is a difference in survival time between primary and secondary hypothermia groups, depending on consumption and intoxication with alcohol or benzodiazepines. The analysis of survival times following induced hypothermia showed a statistically significant difference among the groups.