Foreign citizen mortality in Iceland January 2006 - December 2016.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, tourism has become the number one account for foreign exchange income in Iceland, overtaking the fisheries industry and aluminium production. The rise of tourism has strongly affected Icelandic society in various sectors. With the increase of tourists visiting Iceland, the number of foreign citizens that died and were autopsied also rose.

METHOD: Data were collected from the Department of Forensic Pathology at Landspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik for the period January 2006 - December 2016.

RESULT: During this time there were 109 autopsies performed on foreign citizens of which 58 died from natural causes, 49 were injury deaths and in 2 cases no certain cause of death could be determined. Most represented were citizens from North America, United Kingdom and Germany (each 11%). The main causes of death were cardiovascular events (41%) followed by unintentional injuries (34%).

CONCLUSION: The research at hand shows the significant influence of tourism on Forensic Medicine and provides an update on deaths of overseas travellers. Furthermore this study points out variable risks of travel-related injuries and deaths in Iceland.