A Scoping Review on Factors Affecting Cadaveric Decomposition Rates

Introduction: The importance of the determination of cadaveric decomposition rate is to enable the forensic pathologist and forensic scientist in estimating the time since death also known as post-mortem interval. There are many factors affecting the cadaveric decomposition rate including environmental factors and non-environmental factors. This scoping review is to explore the relationship between the delaying or accelerating factors and the decomposition rate. Methods: It was conducted using framework suggested by Arksey and O'Maley. Comprehensive search was performed to identify published works and literatures. Inclusion criteria for the search were articles in English published from 2007 to 2016 and related to taphonomic study as well as the decomposition process and/or rate.
Results: A total of 2,893 titles were extracted from electronic databases and other resources and 41 articles were selected based on inclusion criteria. The variables and decomposition rates were generally varied between studies. Accelerating factors were mostly related to higher temperature including the summer season, rainy season, urban and desert area, sun-exposed on ground area, burning effect, enclosed vehicle as well as exposure to insects and scavenger activities. Decelerating factors often relied on the effect of the lower temperature such as winter season, deep coastal marine, underwater, highland and shaded area. It might also depend on the burial effect and other physical barriers by using heavy clothing, wrapping, lime and cement as well as the chemical barrier likewise the organophosphate (OP) pesticide etc.
Conclusion: There were emerging evidences on the affecting factors of the decomposition rate, although it was still very limited in tropical countries including Malaysia. Findings of this scoping review demonstrated that insect activities and temperature were the main factors affecting the overall decomposition rates except in the presence of physical barriers which might have contributed some variations to the decomposition rates.