Citation

House CJ, Palmentier JPFP. J. Can. Soc. Forensic Sci. 2004; 37(2): 111-118.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Canadian Society of Forensic Science, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00085030.2004.10757569

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Caffeine is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world and an overdose due to caffeine ingestion is very rare. A review of thirty years of literature has documented 19 fatalities following caffeine overdose either alone or in combination with other compounds. Of these fatalities, only four involved caffeine alone and an additional four involved only caffeine and ephedrine. In the last six years, only two cases of caffeine-related overdose have been reported at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, Ontario. The detected postmortem blood caffeine concentrations were 134 and 150 mg/L and these concentrations fall within the range of documented caffeine-related fatalities.