NP Medical News about marijuana cocaine opiate toxicology

Become a Member Today!
Register

Most Viewed Abstracts

1. Report Shows Shift in Starting Salaries for Physicians

2. Use of Antiemetic Agents in Acute Gastroenteritis

3. Gene expression signatures, clinicopathological features, and individualized therapy in breast cancer

4. AHA Guidelines on Cardiac CT for Assessing Coronary Artery Disease

5. Rapid correction of low vitamin D status in nursing home residents

Your Article Summary

See Latest Articles

(Click the title below to leave the MDLinx Network and go to the Journal's Website)

A meta-analysis of marijuana, cocaine and opiate toxicology study findings among homicide victims
Addiction, 06/30/09

Kuhns JB et al. - There are relatively few studies of illicit drug toxicology reports from homicide victims that allow for cross-cultural comparisons. This study provides a basis for comparing future local toxicology test results to estimates from existing research.

Methods

A meta-analysis of 18 independent studies identified from an extensive review of 239 published articles that met the inclusion criteria of reporting marijuana, cocaine and/or opiate toxicology test results for homicide victims.
A total of 28,868 toxicology test results derived from 30,482 homicide victims across five countries were examined.

Results

On average, 6% of homicide victims tested positive for marijuana, 11% tested positive for cocaine, and 5% tested positive for opiates.
The proportion of homicide victims testing positive for illicit drugs has increased over time.
Age had a strong curvilinear relationship with toxicology test results, but gender differences were not apparent.
Hispanic and African American homicide victims were more likely to test positive for cocaine; Caucasians were most likely to test positive for opiates.
Cocaine use appeared to be related to increased risk of death from a firearm and was a greater risk factor for violent victimization in the United States than in Newfoundland and Scandinavia.

<< Previous
Clinicoepidemiological Scoring System for Early Diagnosis of...

Next >>
Absence of a normal Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) in...