Gunshot injuries in Owerri, a 10 years (2001-2010) postmortem study.

This study is to establish the demographic parameters, typical entry and exit wound sites, immediate causes of death and annual incidence of gunshot injuries in Owerri. The records of gunshot victims in the case notes, Post-mortem registers, departmental and medical records databases of FMC Owerri were used as the sources of data for this study from January 2001 to December 2010. One hundred and one cases of gunshot injuries (GSI) that resulted in death met the inclusion criteria of this study. Ninety-six per cent of the victims were males; mean age was 52.2±21.3 years and age range of 19-71 years.  The most affected age groups were those in the 21-30 years age groups followed by 31-40 years. The most frequent site of entry wound was thorax (36.7%), followed by head and neck region (22.8%), abdomen (19.8%) and lower limbs (13.9%). A total of 56.4% (57cases) had established sites of exit wounds while in 33.7% (34 cases) the exit wounds were not defined. The incidence of GSI was highest in 2003 (17.82%), followed by 2008 (14.85%) and 2007 (13.46%). The immediate causes of death were a haemorrhagic shock in 84 cases (83.2%), head injuries with skull fractures 10cases (9.9%) and septicaemia in 7 cases (6.9%). Effective legislation and gun control policy would prevent the unnecessary death of our young men through violence, gangsterism and substance abuse.