Tharp Amy M, Hobron Kathrin, Wright Trista
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Western District, Commonwealth of Virginia, 6600 Northside High School Road, Roanoke, VA.
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Forensic Epidemiology, Commonwealth of Virginia, 400 E. Jackson St., Richmond, VA, 23219.
J Forensic Sci. 2019 Jul;64(4):1105-1111. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14021. Epub 2019 Feb 7.
Gabapentin, a GABA analogue, is a nonopioid prescribed for seizure control and neuralgic pain. Its abuse for recreational purposes has been increasing in recent years as the number of prescriptions also increases. In our series, we review 104 cases of decedents who tested positive for gabapentin in postmortem blood samples and an additional 53 nonfatal cases of motor vehicle drivers suspected of driving under the influence. In 47.1% of the fatality cases, gabapentin was directly involved in death. Most gabapentin fatalities had several other intoxicants present (opioids, over-the-counter medications, antianxiety, and antidepressant medications). In cases in which gabapentin was determined to be a cause of death, the blood concentrations ranged from 1.1 to 134.0 mg/L. Persons who died of a gabapentin-related drug death were prescribed the drug legitimately 91.4% of the time, with 84.2% of those also having a known prior history of abuse or misuse of prescription medications.
加巴喷丁是一种γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）类似物，是一种用于控制癫痫发作和神经痛的非阿片类药物。近年来，随着处方数量的增加，其用于娱乐目的的滥用情况也在增多。在我们的系列研究中，我们回顾了104例死后血液样本中加巴喷丁检测呈阳性的死者病例，以及另外53例疑似酒后驾车的机动车驾驶员非致命病例。在47.1%的死亡病例中，加巴喷丁直接导致了死亡。大多数加巴喷丁致死病例还存在其他几种 intoxicants（阿片类药物、非处方药物、抗焦虑药物和抗抑郁药物）。在确定加巴喷丁为死因的病例中，血液浓度范围为1.1至134.0毫克/升。因加巴喷丁相关药物死亡的人，91.4%的时间里该药物是合法开具的，其中84.2%的人此前也有已知的滥用或误用处方药的历史。
