Cargando…
Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain
Medical psychotropics are widely used and prescribed in developed countries. These medications may have an impairing effect on mood or perception and may induce harmful behaviors. Nevertheless, in Europe, studies on their importance from a medico-legal perspective are scarce. To fill this gap, we ev...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8876624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35202250 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics10020064 |
_version_ | 1784658217687580672 |
---|---|
author | Almeida-González, Maira Boada, Luis D. Henríquez-Hernández, Luis Alberto Luzardo, Octavio P. Zaragoza, Enrique Burillo-Putze, Guillermo Quintana-Montesdeoca, María P. Zumbado, Manuel |
author_facet | Almeida-González, Maira Boada, Luis D. Henríquez-Hernández, Luis Alberto Luzardo, Octavio P. Zaragoza, Enrique Burillo-Putze, Guillermo Quintana-Montesdeoca, María P. Zumbado, Manuel |
author_sort | Almeida-González, Maira |
collection | PubMed |
description | Medical psychotropics are widely used and prescribed in developed countries. These medications may have an impairing effect on mood or perception and may induce harmful behaviors. Nevertheless, in Europe, studies on their importance from a medico-legal perspective are scarce. To fill this gap, we evaluate the determinants of these drugs in a retrospective study based on data obtained from forensic autopsies. Toxicological analyses were performed on 394 blood samples from compulsory autopsies at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Las Palmas. Of the samples, 41% (159) were positive for at least one psychotropic, with benzodiazepines being the most frequently detected (24.1%), followed by opiates and antidepressants. Benzodiazepines, opiates, and antidepressants were detected more frequently in men who suffered a violent death. More than 30% of the positive samples showed two or more drugs, suggesting a prevalence of polypharmacy among forensic autopsy subjects, with the most frequently combination found being benzodiazepines plus opiates (28.3% of positive samples). A combination of opiates plus antidepressants was also found in subjects involved in violent deaths. Our results suggest that more than 40% of the adult European population involved in medico-legal issues may be under the influence of legal psychotropics. The link between violent deaths and the use of medical psychotropics is particularly worrisome and indicates that these drugs should be carefully monitored in developed countries, in all forensic autopsies, in a similar way to illegal psychotropics. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8876624 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88766242022-02-26 Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain Almeida-González, Maira Boada, Luis D. Henríquez-Hernández, Luis Alberto Luzardo, Octavio P. Zaragoza, Enrique Burillo-Putze, Guillermo Quintana-Montesdeoca, María P. Zumbado, Manuel Toxics Article Medical psychotropics are widely used and prescribed in developed countries. These medications may have an impairing effect on mood or perception and may induce harmful behaviors. Nevertheless, in Europe, studies on their importance from a medico-legal perspective are scarce. To fill this gap, we evaluate the determinants of these drugs in a retrospective study based on data obtained from forensic autopsies. Toxicological analyses were performed on 394 blood samples from compulsory autopsies at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Las Palmas. Of the samples, 41% (159) were positive for at least one psychotropic, with benzodiazepines being the most frequently detected (24.1%), followed by opiates and antidepressants. Benzodiazepines, opiates, and antidepressants were detected more frequently in men who suffered a violent death. More than 30% of the positive samples showed two or more drugs, suggesting a prevalence of polypharmacy among forensic autopsy subjects, with the most frequently combination found being benzodiazepines plus opiates (28.3% of positive samples). A combination of opiates plus antidepressants was also found in subjects involved in violent deaths. Our results suggest that more than 40% of the adult European population involved in medico-legal issues may be under the influence of legal psychotropics. The link between violent deaths and the use of medical psychotropics is particularly worrisome and indicates that these drugs should be carefully monitored in developed countries, in all forensic autopsies, in a similar way to illegal psychotropics. MDPI 2022-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8876624/ /pubmed/35202250 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics10020064 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Almeida-González, Maira Boada, Luis D. Henríquez-Hernández, Luis Alberto Luzardo, Octavio P. Zaragoza, Enrique Burillo-Putze, Guillermo Quintana-Montesdeoca, María P. Zumbado, Manuel Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain |
title | Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain |
title_full | Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain |
title_fullStr | Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain |
title_full_unstemmed | Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain |
title_short | Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain |
title_sort | medical psychotropics in forensic autopsies in european countries: results from a three-year retrospective study in spain |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8876624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35202250 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics10020064 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT almeidagonzalezmaira medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT boadaluisd medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT henriquezhernandezluisalberto medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT luzardooctaviop medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT zaragozaenrique medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT burilloputzeguillermo medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT quintanamontesdeocamariap medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain AT zumbadomanuel medicalpsychotropicsinforensicautopsiesineuropeancountriesresultsfromathreeyearretrospectivestudyinspain |