NCJ Number
231646
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2010 Pages: 1015-1018
Date Published
July 2010
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The demographic and toxicological characteristics of deliberate (SUI, n = 50) and accidental (ACC, n = 927) fatal heroin overdose cases were examined.
Abstract
SUI cases were more likely to be female, had lower body mass indices, were more likely to be enrolled in treatment and less likely to have hepatic pathology. The median blood morphine concentration of SUI cases was significantly higher than that of ACC cases (0.70 vs. 0.40 mg/L, p less than 0.001). Blood morphine concentrations of greater than 1 mg/L were seen among 38.0 percent of SUI cases compared to 13.9 percent of ACC cases. Being a member of the SUI group remained a significant independent predictor of higher morphine concentrations after controlling for the effects of potential confounders (p less than 0.001), other significant predictors being the absence of alcohol (p less than 0.001), the presence of methadone (p less than 0.05), and the presence of cocaine (p less than 0.05). The current data are consistent with the view that suicide forms a small, but distinct, category of heroin overdose cases, rather than overdose being a parasuicidal phenomenon per se. (Published Abstract)