A Fatality Involving Zolpidem
| Autor: | Robert Tully, Mark R. Lichtenwalner |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1997 |
| Předmět: |
Toxicology screening
Zolpidem Pyridines medicine.drug_class Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis Poison control Urine Toxicology Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Analytical Chemistry Hypnotic Blood concentration medicine Humans Hypnotics and Sedatives Environmental Chemistry Aged Cause of death Aged 80 and over Drowning Chemical Health and Safety business.industry musculoskeletal neural and ocular physiology Suicide Anesthesia Sedative Female Drug Overdose business psychological phenomena and processes medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Analytical Toxicology. 21:567-569 |
| ISSN: | 1945-2403 0146-4760 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/jat/21.7.567 |
| Popis: | An elderly woman residing in an independent-living retirement community was found dead in the bathtub. She had a history of depression and was prescribed Ambien (generic name zolpidem) for the treatment of insomnia. Two empty prescription bottles of Ambien were found; both were for 10-mg tablets with a total quantity of 60. A postmortem examination was conducted, and blood, urine, and gastric contents were submitted for toxicology screening. The cause of death was drowning. The only remarkable toxicology finding was zolpidem. Quantitative analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determined the following concentrations of zolpidem: blood, 7.9 micrograms/mL and urine, 4.1 micrograms/mL. A total of 7 mg unabsorbed zolpidem was found in the gastric contents. Our findings report the highest blood concentration of zolpidem reported to date and corroborate other studies that imply that death due solely to overdosage of zolpidem is an unlikely occurrence. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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