Klatt E C, Mills N Z, Noguchi T T
Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.
J Forensic Sci. 1990 Sep;35(5):1143-8.
The authors reviewed at autopsy the causes of death of 274 patients with evidence of intravenous drug abuse who had been admitted to a large public hospital. There were 127 who died from diseases unrelated to intravenous drug abuse, and in 41% of these, chronic alcoholism was implicated. Deaths from overdose syndromes and drug-related organ pathology comprised only 11% of all cases. The mean age at death was 39 years. There was a male/female ratio of 3.6:1. Half of all patients died from infection--72 from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) alone. These findings indicate that persons hospitalized with a history of intravenous drug abuse usually die from causes other than overdose and that AIDS and chronic alcoholism are significant problems. Emphasis should be placed upon detecting "hidden" intravenous drug deaths to provide more accurate statistical information.
作者对一家大型公立医院收治的274例有静脉注射吸毒证据患者的尸检死因进行了回顾。其中127例死于与静脉注射吸毒无关的疾病，其中41%涉及慢性酒精中毒。死于过量综合征和药物相关器官病变的仅占所有病例的11%。平均死亡年龄为39岁。男女比例为3.6:1。所有患者中有一半死于感染——仅72例死于获得性免疫缺陷综合征（艾滋病）。这些发现表明，有静脉注射吸毒史的住院患者通常死于过量以外的原因，艾滋病和慢性酒精中毒是重大问题。应着重检测“隐匿性”静脉注射吸毒死亡病例，以提供更准确的统计信息。
