Mean Brain Weight among Autopsy Cases at the Department of Forensic Medicine of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Weight of the brain is an important diagnostic criterion during autopsy. Normal variations in brain weight among various population demands for population-specific study. The aim of this study was to find the mean brain weight among autopsy cases at a tertiary care centre.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among autopsy cases in the Department of Forensic Medicine of a tertiary care hospital from July 2019 to July 2021. The approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 550/2019). Convenience sampling was done. Brain was dissected following standard autopsy technique and weight was measured by an electronic digital weighing scale (5 kg/0.01 gm). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 was used for data analysis. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval and descriptive statistics were used to express results in frequency, mean, standard deviation, range, and percentage.

Results: The mean brain weight for 394 autopsy cases was 1272.38±144.07 grams (1258.15-1286.60 at 95% Confidence Interval). For male and female it was 1322.47±140.22 grams and 1221.27±129.55 grams respectively. Maximum attainment of brain weight was found at 21 to 30 years age group for both sexes. Out of 394 cases, 199 (50.50%) were males and 195 (49.50%) were females. In all the age groups, male brain weight was greater than that of female.

Conclusions: The mean weight of the brain derived from the present study is found to have variable values in comparison to other studies done under similar settings.