Document Detail


A retrospective analysis of alcohol in medicolegal postmortems over a period of five years.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  1476133     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Violence and violent death are everyday events in present-day South Africa. Although this phenomenon may be attributed in great part to the sociopolitical environment, the single most important underlying common factor is the presence of alcohol in both the perpetrators of violence and their victims. We retrospectively studied 948 cases of 2,980 medicolegal autopsies done over a 5-year period. We found that 52.5% of cases tested positively for alcohol, with blood alcohol concentration varying from 0.008 to 0.048 g% (mean = 0.18). Male patients were more common and more likely to be positive than female patients. Breakdown of the cases into various modes of death showed that homicides, vehicular accidents, and suicides predominated. The results are in agreement with earlier studies done locally and elsewhere.
Authors:
I A Loftus; M A Dada
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology     Volume:  13     ISSN:  0195-7910     ISO Abbreviation:  Am J Forensic Med Pathol     Publication Date:  1992 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1993-02-04     Completed Date:  1993-02-04     Revised Date:  2011-02-02    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8108948     Medline TA:  Am J Forensic Med Pathol     Country:  UNITED STATES    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  248-52     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Accidents
Adolescent
Adult
Cause of Death*
Ethanol / analysis*
Female
Forensic Medicine
Homicide
Humans
Male
Postmortem Changes
Retrospective Studies
Socioeconomic Factors
Suicide
Vitreous Body / chemistry*
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
64-17-5/Ethanol

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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