-Short Communication-

Solitary Deaths in the Tokyo Metropolis and Labor Force Status: Characteristics of Unnatural Deaths at Home among Persons Living Alone

Yoshimasa Kanawaku^1,2 and Youkichi Ohno¹

¹Department of Legal Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
²Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo, Japan

Objective: To identify associations of solitary death with social determinants of health, namely, labor force status and welfare status, in Tokyo in 2015.
Methods: We obtained data on solitary deaths in 2015 in the 23 special wards of Tokyo and calculated the incidence rate and postmortem interval of solitary death in relation to sex, age, and labor force status.
Results: Data for 3,972 solitary deaths (2,785 males, 1,187 females) were analyzed. The non-employed rate was 79.3% among males and 89.5% among females. The incidence rate was significantly higher among non-employed persons than among employed persons in both sexes. Moreover, with the exception of women 65 years or older, the postmortem interval was significantly longer among non-employed persons than among employed persons in both sexes.
Conclusions: The incidence rates of solitary death were significantly higher among non-employed persons than among employed persons in both sexes, and the postmortem interval was significantly longer for non-employed persons.

J Nippon Med Sch 2019; 86: 360-363

Keywords
solitary death, unnatural death, medical examiner, labor force status

Correspondence to
Yoshimasa Kanawaku, Department of Legal Medicine, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan
ykanawaku@nms.ac.jp

Received, October 9, 2018
Accepted, June 14, 2019