Citation

Klatt EC, Mills NZ, Noguchi TT. J. Forensic Sci. 1990; 35(5): 1143-1148.

Affiliation

Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2230689

Abstract

The authors reviewed at autopsy the causes of death of 274 patients with evidence of intravenous drug abuse who had been admitted to a large public hospital. There were 127 who died from diseases unrelated to intravenous drug abuse, and in 41% of these, chronic alcoholism was implicated. Deaths from overdose syndromes and drug-related organ pathology comprised only 11% of all cases. The mean age at death was 39 years. There was a male/female ratio of 3.6:1. Half of all patients died from infection--72 from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) alone. These findings indicate that persons hospitalized with a history of intravenous drug abuse usually die from causes other than overdose and that AIDS and chronic alcoholism are significant problems. Emphasis should be placed upon detecting "hidden" intravenous drug deaths to provide more accurate statistical information.

Language: en