Linked Life Data

7595326

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/7595326

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
5
pubmed:dateCreated
1995-12-8
pubmed:abstractText
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of ethanol in deaths due to heroin intoxication. Over a 12 month period, all cases investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland where a blood screen by Roche Abuscreen radioimmunoassay (RIA) was positive at a cutoff of 100 ng/mL were included in the study. Free morphine was quantitated using the Coat-A-Count RIA and ethanol was quantitated by head space gas chromatography. All presumptive morphine positive cases were confirmed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Seventy of the 119 cases where death was attributed to narcotic or alcohol and narcotic intoxication had blood ethanol concentrations (BAC) greater than or equal to 0.02 g/dL; 48 had BAC > or = 0.10 g/dL. Only 3 of 45 cases where morphine was identified but was unrelated to death had BAC > or = 0.02 g/dL. At all ranges of free morphine concentrations, there was a greater percentage of narcotic deaths when ethanol was present. From the data, we conclude that 1) the use of even small amounts of ethanol with heroin is clearly a risk factor in deaths due to heroin, 2) there are some heroin deaths where no free morphine is identified in the blood. In these deaths, ethanol is unlikely to be present, 3) at blood ethanol concentrations between 0.20 and 0.29 g/dL, the morphine concentrations in heroin deaths increased significantly, 4) at blood ethanol concentrations greater than 0.30 g/dL, morphine became less of a factor than the ethanol in causing death.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
0022-1198
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
40
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
808-10
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1995
pubmed:articleTitle
The role of ethanol in heroin deaths.
pubmed:affiliation
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland, Baltimore, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article