Biomedical subjects

Drazen Cuculic

Publications and source records attributed to Drazen Cuculic.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Suicide rate after the 1991-1995 War in Southwestern Croatia.

BACKGROUND: The paper analyzed the impact of war, the most pernicious of social evils, taking into consideration intensity of change in rate of suicide in the southwestern region of Croatia during the war and including three distinctly specific intervals, two peacetime-one pre-war (1986-1990) and one post-war (1996-2000) as well as the period of the war itself (1991-1995). METHODS: From 853 cases of suicide committed during the period under review, age and gender of suicide victims, level of alcohol intoxication at suicide, means used in committing suicide, and suicide rate in years under review were analyzed. Quantitative characteristics of suicides were compared with other types of violent deaths, e.g., homicides and accidents. Frequencies of different features are shown graphically. Statistica 4.0 for Windows 98 was used in data processing. RESULTS: Of a total of 2,925 violent deaths in the period under review (1986-2000), 29.16% or 853 suicides (29.1%) were recorded. A total of 513 suicides were committed in the peace-time period--262 prior to the war (1986-1990) and 251 after the war (1996-2000)--while 340 suicides were recorded during the war (1991-1995). Means of committing suicide also changed drastically during the war, when 64 cases of firearm use were recorded compared with 18 cases during the pre-war interval and 36 cases in the post-war interval. CONCLUSIONS: Three parameters, namely, suicide rate, use of firearms, and intoxication, suffered the greatest changes in the war compared with the pre- and post-war period in the region under review.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Terrorism in Croatia.

INTRODUCTION: This report illustrates Croatia's experience with the terrorist attack in the city of Rijeka in October 1995. Also, the intention of this report is to outline how emergency services were functioning in this sudden-onset situation. METHODS: The medical documentation of 27 wounded citizens in the attack was analyzed and the appearance of bodily wounds, severity of wounds, and the mechanisms of injury are described. From the forensic medical report, the wounds and damages sustained by the terrorist also were analyzed. All findings were compared with similar cases from around the world. RESULTS: In the 27 wounded citizens, three (11%) had head injuries, and injuries of the abdomen in only two cases (7%) were found. The most common injuries sustained involved one or more extremities: 16 (59%) persons had wounds of an upper or lower extremity or a combination of multiple wounds. The main cause of death of the terrorist was explosive wounds to the chest and abdomen with destruction of multiple inner organs (primarily kidneys, liver, abdomen, and lung). Furthermore, the terrorist had a fracture of the skull base and multiple injuries to the brain. CONCLUSION: Comparing the findings with other data from the literature, the distribution in the percentages of wounded is almost the same as reported in many bomb attacks. In this case, the walls of the building protected many citizens, which is why so few were seriously injured. Forensic examination of the terrorist's body showed all of the characteristics of blast injuries.

Blast Injuries↗