Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Frome Road, SA, 5000, Australia.
Forensic Science SA, 21 Divett Place, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2021 May;80:102181. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102181. Epub 2021 May 8.
of autopsy files at Forensic Science SA was undertaken over a 20-year period (2000-2019) in five representative time periods to determine the average ages for all adults (≥18 years) where methamphetamine was detected. There were 239 cases with statistically significant increased mean ages over the time of the study ranging from 32.6yrs in 2000 to 42.2yrs in 2019 (p < 0.0001). Although methamphetamine use may be considered predominantly a feature of younger individuals this does not appear to be the case. Whether this apparent increase in the age of methamphetamine users was due to natural aging of methamphetamine users, an increase in use of methamphetamine by older individuals, or to an increased capture of older cases due to wider toxicological screening is uncertain. However, the importance of these results is to alert practitioners to the presence of methamphetamine use in older individuals which may predispose to death given the increased incidence of underlying cardiovascular diseases with age. In addition, in clinical settings there exists a cohort of older individuals who may be at risk of exacerbating their heart disease and precipitating cardiac events by using methamphetamine.
对南非法医科学的尸检文件进行了为期 20 年（2000-2019 年）的研究，分为五个有代表性的时间段，以确定所有成年人（≥18 岁）中检测到甲基苯丙胺的平均年龄。在所研究的时间内，有 239 例具有统计学意义的平均年龄显著增加，范围从 2000 年的 32.6 岁到 2019 年的 42.2 岁（p<0.0001）。尽管甲基苯丙胺的使用可能被认为主要是年轻人的特征，但事实似乎并非如此。甲基苯丙胺使用者年龄的这种明显增加是由于甲基苯丙胺使用者的自然老化、老年人使用甲基苯丙胺的增加，还是由于更广泛的毒理学筛查导致更多的老年病例被捕获，尚不确定。然而，这些结果的重要性在于提醒医生注意老年人中存在的甲基苯丙胺使用情况，鉴于年龄增长导致潜在心血管疾病的发病率增加，这可能导致死亡。此外，在临床环境中，存在一组年龄较大的个体，他们可能因使用甲基苯丙胺而使心脏病恶化并引发心脏事件的风险增加。
