Causes and circumstances of death in stimulant and opioid use-A comparative study
(2024) In PLoS ONE 19(2).- Abstract
AIMS: To investigate the individual characteristics, causes and circumstances around deaths in stimulant use, and to examine how individuals who died with stimulants in their body differ from individuals who died with opioids in their body.
METHODS: This study includes individuals who died during the years 2000-2018 and underwent a forensic autopsy at Forensic Medicine in Lund, Skåne County, Sweden. All individuals over 18 years of age with stimulants (n = 310), opioids (n = 2,039) or both stimulants and opioids (n = 385) in the body at the time of death, were included. The three groups were assessed regarding gender, age, place of death, BMI, other substances detected in forensic toxicological analysis, organ weights and... (More)
AIMS: To investigate the individual characteristics, causes and circumstances around deaths in stimulant use, and to examine how individuals who died with stimulants in their body differ from individuals who died with opioids in their body.
METHODS: This study includes individuals who died during the years 2000-2018 and underwent a forensic autopsy at Forensic Medicine in Lund, Skåne County, Sweden. All individuals over 18 years of age with stimulants (n = 310), opioids (n = 2,039) or both stimulants and opioids (n = 385) in the body at the time of death, were included. The three groups were assessed regarding gender, age, place of death, BMI, other substances detected in forensic toxicological analysis, organ weights and underlying and contributing causes of death. The data were analysed by frequency and proportion calculations, cross-tabulations and comparisons of medians.
RESULTS: The median age at death of the study population (n = 2,734) was 45.5 years (interquartile range ☯IQR] 32-60 years) and 73.2% were men. The most common cause of death in the stimulant group was suicide (26.8%), higher proportion compared to the opioid group (20.8%) (p = 0.017) and in the polysubstance group accidental poisoning (38.2%), higher proportion compared to the opioid group (18.0%) (p<0.001). Death by transport accidents was significantly associated with the stimulant group (p<0.001) as well as death by other accidents (p = 0.016).
CONCLUSIONS: Individuals who died with stimulants in their body died at a higher rate from suicide, transport accidents and other accidents, compared to individuals who died with opioids in their body. This study indicates the need to identify and prevent psychiatric conditions, elevated suicide risk, and risk-taking behaviors among people who use stimulants.
(Less)
- author
- Åhman, Ada LU ; Wingren, Carl Johan LU and Håkansson, Anders LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-02-07
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Humans, Male, Adolescent, Adult, Middle Aged, Female, Analgesics, Opioid/adverse effects, Suicide, Opioid-Related Disorders, Autopsy, Forensic Medicine, Central Nervous System Stimulants, Cause of Death
- in
- PLoS ONE
- volume
- 19
- issue
- 2
- article number
- e0297838
- publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85184586370
- pmid:38324514
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0297838
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Copyright: © 2024 Åhman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- id
- d9f5432f-77da-45ab-8268-e57ec9f3904c
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-09 21:45:46
- date last changed
- 2024-04-14 10:58:18
@article{d9f5432f-77da-45ab-8268-e57ec9f3904c,
abstract = {{<p>AIMS: To investigate the individual characteristics, causes and circumstances around deaths in stimulant use, and to examine how individuals who died with stimulants in their body differ from individuals who died with opioids in their body.</p><p>METHODS: This study includes individuals who died during the years 2000-2018 and underwent a forensic autopsy at Forensic Medicine in Lund, Skåne County, Sweden. All individuals over 18 years of age with stimulants (n = 310), opioids (n = 2,039) or both stimulants and opioids (n = 385) in the body at the time of death, were included. The three groups were assessed regarding gender, age, place of death, BMI, other substances detected in forensic toxicological analysis, organ weights and underlying and contributing causes of death. The data were analysed by frequency and proportion calculations, cross-tabulations and comparisons of medians.</p><p>RESULTS: The median age at death of the study population (n = 2,734) was 45.5 years (interquartile range ☯IQR] 32-60 years) and 73.2% were men. The most common cause of death in the stimulant group was suicide (26.8%), higher proportion compared to the opioid group (20.8%) (p = 0.017) and in the polysubstance group accidental poisoning (38.2%), higher proportion compared to the opioid group (18.0%) (p<0.001). Death by transport accidents was significantly associated with the stimulant group (p<0.001) as well as death by other accidents (p = 0.016).</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: Individuals who died with stimulants in their body died at a higher rate from suicide, transport accidents and other accidents, compared to individuals who died with opioids in their body. This study indicates the need to identify and prevent psychiatric conditions, elevated suicide risk, and risk-taking behaviors among people who use stimulants.</p>}},
author = {{Åhman, Ada and Wingren, Carl Johan and Håkansson, Anders}},
issn = {{1932-6203}},
keywords = {{Humans; Male; Adolescent; Adult; Middle Aged; Female; Analgesics, Opioid/adverse effects; Suicide; Opioid-Related Disorders; Autopsy; Forensic Medicine; Central Nervous System Stimulants; Cause of Death}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
number = {{2}},
publisher = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
series = {{PLoS ONE}},
title = {{Causes and circumstances of death in stimulant and opioid use-A comparative study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297838}},
doi = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0297838}},
volume = {{19}},
year = {{2024}},
}