Citation

Zhou L, Liu L, Chang L, Li L. J. Forensic Sci. 2011; 56(Suppl 1): S234-237.

Affiliation

China University of Political Science and Law, Haidian District, Beijing, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01625.x

PMID

21198624

Abstract

A retrospective study of autopsy cases was conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College (DFM-TMC), in Hubei, China to describe the characteristics of poisoning deaths from 1999 to 2008. A total of 212 poisoning deaths were investigated by DFM-TMC during the 10-year period. The poisoning deaths ranged from 17 cases in 1999 to 27 cases in 2008. Of the 212 cases, 82 deaths (38.7%) were from pesticides, 36 deaths (17.0%) from carbon monoxide, 34 deaths (16.0%) from drugs, 22 deaths (10.4%) from alcohol, 17 deaths (8.0%) from other chemicals, 15 deaths (7.1%) from poisonous plants and animals, and six deaths (2.8%) from heavy metals. Of the 82 pesticide poisoning deaths, 43 (52.4%) cases were caused by rodenticides, mainly tetramine (N = 39). The majority of poisoning deaths were accidents (63.7%), followed by suicides (25.9%) and homicides (3.8%). The manner of death could not be determined in 14 cases (6.6%).

Language: en