[Determination of antidepressants in biological materials originating from victims of suicide by hanging] Archiwum medycyny sa̧dowej i kryminologii [Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol] Journal article

The report presents the results of determinations of medication levels in biological materials collected from victims of suicide by hanging. The analysis included cases autopsied at Forensic Medicine Department in Bydgoszcz in the years 2005-2006. The authors observed that of 928 postmortem examinations, suicide by hanging accounted for 7.8% of cases; in this group, 11.1% victims were female and 88.9% were male. The most numerous group included individuals aged 20-29 years (20.7%), while the smallest group consisted of suicide victims below 20 years of age (8.3%). A total of 23.6% of individuals were under the influence of antidepressant drugs at the moment of death. The detected antidepressants included phenotiazine derivatives and such tricyclic antidepressants as amitryptyline, chloropromazine, clomipramine, levomepromazine, mianserin, promazine and thioridazine. Based on the above investigations, 11.1% of suicide victims may be said to have taken antidepressants in the past, but to be under no influence of such medications at the time of death.

Archiwum medycyny sa̧dowej i kryminologii [Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol]