School of Pharmacy, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK.
J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2012 Oct;32(5):710-4. doi: 10.1097/JCP.0b013e318266c70c.
International media have been reporting about fatalities allegedly related to mephedrone, a popular recreational stimulant, but now a proportion of them have been confirmed. We aimed here at analyzing information relating to the circumstances of mephedrone-related deaths in the United Kingdom.
Descriptive analysis of information was mainly extracted from the UK National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths database. With an average annual response rate of 95%, UK National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths receives information from coroners on drug-related deaths among both addicts and nonaddicts in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.
So far, 128 alleged mephedrone-associated fatalities have been reported; mephedrone was identified at postmortem in 90 cases; inquests have been concluded in 69 cases, 62 of which are analyzed here. Typical mephedrone victims were young (mean age, 28.8 years), male, and with a previous history of drug misuse. There was a notable number (18 cases [29%], 11 being from hanging) of deaths involving self-harm. Mephedrone alone was identified at postmortem on 8 occasions (13% of the inquests' sample).
Present mortality data may suggest a significant level of caution when ingesting mephedrone. Limitations include an inability to determine the exact extent of risks associated with mephedrone consumption.
国际媒体一直在报道据称与流行的娱乐性兴奋剂甲卡西酮有关的死亡事件，但现在其中一部分已经得到证实。我们旨在分析英国与甲卡西酮相关死亡的情况信息。
主要从英国国家药物滥用死亡项目数据库中提取有关信息进行描述性分析。英国国家药物滥用死亡项目的平均年回复率为 95%，它接收来自验尸官的信息，涉及英国、海峡群岛和马恩岛的吸毒者和非吸毒者的药物相关死亡事件。
迄今为止，已报告了 128 例疑似与甲卡西酮有关的死亡事件；在 90 例尸检中鉴定出了甲卡西酮；69 例已完成死因裁判调查，其中 62 例在此进行分析。典型的甲卡西酮受害者为年轻（平均年龄为 28.8 岁）、男性，且有药物滥用的既往史。有相当数量（18 例[29%]，其中 11 例为自缢）的死亡涉及自残。在 8 例（尸检样本的 13%）中仅鉴定出甲卡西酮。
目前的死亡率数据可能表明在摄入甲卡西酮时需要高度谨慎。存在的局限性包括无法确定与甲卡西酮消费相关的风险的确切程度。
