Abstract
Using postmortem toxicological analyses, we aimed to determine the origin and cause of death and type of substance used in substance use-related deaths. A total of 7475 autopsies were performed between January 2015 and December 2017 in İzmir, Turkey. In our retrospective analysis, substance use was detected in 449 (6.0%) autopsies. The majority (96.4%) were male. The most frequent deaths (18.5%) occurred in the 25–29 age group. Of the 55.2% of the cases that died of unnatural causes, accident-related events (22.9%) were most frequent. Trauma/injury caused death in 37.0% of cases and substance intoxication in 24.7%. Cannabis use was detected in 34.3% of the samples, and multiple substance use in 25.4%. Accordingly, It is thought that a multidisciplinary approach can be successful in preventing substance use and related problems.
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