Summary statistics for drugs and alcohol concentration recovered in post-mortem femoral blood in Western Switzerland
Autor: | Christelle Lardi, Tony Fracasso, Elodie Lefrancois, Naomi Reymond, Aurélien Thomas, Marc Augsburger |
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Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
Adult
Male Drug Adolescent medicine.drug_class media_common.quotation_subject 01 natural sciences Pathology and Forensic Medicine Forensic Toxicology Young Adult 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Blood drug medicine Humans 030216 legal & forensic medicine Child Tetrahydrocannabinol Aged media_common Cause of death Aged 80 and over Benzodiazepine Ethanol Illicit Drugs business.industry 010401 analytical chemistry Central Nervous System Depressants Middle Aged 0104 chemical sciences Pharmaceutical Preparations Barbiturate Child Preschool Postmortem Changes Anesthesia Female Tramadol business Drugs Intoxication Medicine Post-mortem toxicology Law Switzerland Methadone medicine.drug |
Zdroj: | Forensic science international, vol. 325, pp. 110883 |
ISSN: | 0379-0738 |
Popis: | In post-mortem investigations of fatal intoxication, it is challenging to determine which drug(s) were responsible for the death, and which drugs did not. This study aims to provide post-mortem femoral blood drug levels in lethal intoxication and in post-mortem control cases, where the cause of death was other than intoxication. The reference values could assist in the interpretation of toxicological results in the routine casework. To this end, all post-mortem toxicological results in femoral blood from 2011 to 2017 in Western Switzerland were considered. A full autopsy with systematic toxicological analysis (STA) was conducted in all cases. Results take into account the cause of death classified into one of four categories (as published by Druid and colleagues): I) certified intoxication by one substance alone, IIa) certified intoxication by more than one substance, IIb) certified other causes of death with incapacitation due to drugs, and III) certified other causes of death without incapacitation due to drugs. This study includes 1 990 post-mortem cases where femoral blood was analysed. The material comprised 619 women (31%) and 1 371 men (69%) with a median age of 50 years. The concentrations of the 32 most frequently recorded substances as well as alcohol are discussed. These include 6 opioids and opiates, 3 antidepressants, 6 neuroleptics and hypnotics, 1 barbiturate, 11 benzodiazepines (and related drugs), 2 amphetamine-type stimulants, cocaine, paracetamol, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The most common substances that caused intoxication alone were morphine, methadone, ethanol, tramadol, and cocaine. The post-mortem concentration ranges for all substance are categorized as I, IIa, IIb, or III. Statistical post-mortem reference concentrations for drugs are discussed and compared with previously published concentrations. This study shows that recording and classifying cases is time-consuming, but it is rewarding in a long-term perspective to achieve a more reliable information about fatal and non-fatal blood concentrations. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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