Fatal poisonings in the Aegean region of Turkey.

Between January 1996 and November 2000, 4,251 autopsies were performed at the Council of Forensic Medicine, Morgue Specialization Office, Izmir, Turkey. Among these medicolegal autopsies, 331 fatal poisoning cases (206 men and 125 women) were evaluated retrospectively for their legal investigation results, autopsy findings, and reports of toxicological analyses. The most common cause of fatal poisoning was insecticides (43%). Then followed carbon monoxide (27%) and alcohol (20%). Among the insecticides, the organophosphorus insecticides comprised 78%; all insecticide poisoning cases were suicidal oral ingestions. In fatal alcohol poisoning cases the cause of death was ethanol, methanol and both with 34, 15 and 51% respectively. Drug related deaths were rare.