Deaths and Injuries Following Lightning in Bangladesh in 2019

Background: Lightning is a recurrent hazard in Bangladesh, but year-specific descriptions of its human toll are limited. Objective: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of lightning-related deaths and injuries in Bangladesh during 2019. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional content analysis was conducted at Mymensingh Medical College between February and June 2021. All 2019 issues of three Bangla national daily newspapers were reviewed using a pretested extraction form. Data were analysed in SPSS 22.0 (frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation); 95% confidence intervals were calculated from reported counts. Results: We identified 173 lightning events affecting 293 persons. Events peaked in June (39, 22.5%), and 149 persons (50.9%) were affected in May to July. The place was reported for 115 events, mostly fields (56) and water bodies (34); 58 (33.5%) were unspecified. The mean age was 33.67 ± 14.86 years; 237 persons (80.9%) were aged 11 to 50 years and 252 (86.0%) were male. Occupation was reported for 119 persons (40.6%); farmers were the largest group (54, 18.4% of all persons). In total, 207 persons (70.6%; 95% CI 65.2 to 75.6) died and 86 (29.4%) survived with injuries, a crude mortality of 1.3 deaths per million population (95% CI 1.1 to 1.5). Fifteen domestic animals died. Conclusions: Reported lightning casualties were concentrated among working-age males, outdoors, and in the monsoon months. Newspaper reporting is incomplete and favours fatal events, so these figures are minimum estimates. Lightning casualties should be recorded in routine health and disaster systems, and outdoor workers should be targeted for prevention.