Causes and Prevalence of Drug Overdose Deaths in Cadavers Referred to the Forensic Medicine Department of Boyer-Ahmad County

Background: Intoxication or poisoning is considered a medical emergency condition and the most common cause of referral to urgent treatment centers (UTCs). Every year, many people are dealing with several complications of intoxication or poisoning, extending from mild morbidities to intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and/or even death that imposes a considerable physical, psychological, and economic burden on the person, family, and society. This paper aims to study the causes and prevalence of drug overdose deaths in cadavers referred to the forensic medicine department of Boyer-Ahmad County from 2016 to 2017. Methodology: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted on people who had been died due to drug overdose and their cadavers had been referred to the forensic medicine department of Boyer-Ahmad County from 2016 to 2017. Data were collected from the file of dead peoples and analyzed by SPSS software and full counting statistics. Data gathering tool was a two-item questionnaire covering demographic information (e.g. age, gender, etc.) and data over symptoms and dissection results. Results: Fifty-six files were studies (57.2% female and 42.8% male), of which the youngest and the oldest dead people were 14 and 56 years old, respectively. Most of the dead people (33.9%) were in the age group of 20-30 years, 30.4% had primary education, the majority of them were unemployed or worker and 67.9% were city dwellers. Suicide (53.5%) and unwanted intoxication or poisoning (41.1%) were the most common causes of drug overdose deaths. Tramadol overdose (41.1%) and acute aluminum phosphide poisoning (AAlPP) (33.9%) were the main causes of drug overdose deaths. Most of the dead people (72.1%) had been hospitalized for a day before dying. As toxicological results indicated, the bile esculin test and the gastric contents test was positive in 88.2% and 82.4% of cases, respectively. Conclusion: Most of the drug overdose deaths had been occurred in the youth age group, mainly due to suicide. Narcotics and pesticides account for a high percentage of poisoning cases. The majority of dead people were city dwellers. As the results indicated, education and public awareness seem to be effective in diminishing the consumption of drugs leading to intoxication or poisoning. Avoiding easy access to medications and selling over-the-counter (OTC) medication, and educate people on how to organize medications at home should be concentrated.

Keywords:

Poisoning (intoxication) , drug overdose , narcotics , pesticide , forensic medicine