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

Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below 35 °C andcan be caused by internal or external stress. Primary hypothermiais caused by excessive exposure to low environmental temperaturewithout any medical conditions prior to that. Secondary hypothermiais caused by alteration in thermoregulation by disease, trauma, surgery,drugs, or infections. The aim of the research is to investigate coretemperature values in rats subjected to specific water temperatures atfive different time points. It focuses on distinguishing between primaryand secondary hypothermia in these rats.The total 21 Wistar rats were divided into three experimental groupsas: 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 coretemperature, core temperature during injection of 0,3 ml ketamine,temperature of immersion and the temperature at the onset ofhypothermia and temperature at the time of death.In our study the comparative analysis of body temperatures at varioustime points following submersion in water revealed significantdifferences among the study groups treated with either alcoholor benzodiazepines and the control group. Notable differenceswere observed in baseline temperature, post-anesthesia inductiontemperature, and immediate post-submersion temperature. Specifically,significant differences were discovered among the alcohol andbenzodiazepine groups (p < 0.001) and ranging from the alcohol andcontrol groups (p < 0.001). The analysis of survival times followinginduced hypothermia revealed a statistically significant differenceamong the three experimental groups (p = 0.04), though subsequentpost-hoc comparisons did not demonstrate significant differences inmean survival times.There is a difference in survival time between primary and secondaryhypothermia groups, depending on consumption and intoxication withalcohol or benzodiazepines. The analysis of survival times followinginduced hypothermia showed a statistically significant differenceamong the groups.