Factors associated with methamphetamine use in Japanese people who died of unnatural causes: Analysis using forensic autopsy reports

•Characteristics of methamphetamine use were examined using forensic autopsy report.•Methamphetamine group was matched with comparison group on age and sex.•Methamphetamine was associated with gang member, criminal record, tattoo, and HCV. This study aimed to examine factors related to methamphetami...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forensic science international 2021-10, Vol.327, p.110946, Article 110946
Main Authors: Mizuno, Satomi, Ono, Sachiko, Yasunaga, Hideo, Iwase, Hirotaro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Amphetamines
Antibodies
Autopsies
Autopsy
Benzodiazepines
Body mass
Body mass index
Body size
Cause of death
Cocaine
Cognitive ability
Crime
Criminal record
Criminal records
Development policy
Drugs
Forensic medicine
Forensic science
Forensic sciences
Gang membership
Hepatitis
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C virus
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Immune system
Infections
Methamphetamine
Narcotics
Poisoning
Psychotropic drugs
Robbery
Sex crimes
Sex ratio
Syphilis
Tattoo
Tattoos
Tetrahydrocannabinol
THC
Variables
Viruses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Characteristics of methamphetamine use were examined using forensic autopsy report.•Methamphetamine group was matched with comparison group on age and sex.•Methamphetamine was associated with gang member, criminal record, tattoo, and HCV. This study aimed to examine factors related to methamphetamine use in Japanese people who died of unnatural causes. This study used a cross-sectional design. A total of 3343 forensic autopsy reports were obtained from two forensic medicine departments in the Kanto region of Japan. We classified the decedents who underwent forensic autopsies into methamphetamine/amphetamine (MA) and undetected (comparison) groups based on toxicological examination. We matched the decedents in the MA group with those in the comparison group at a 1:4 ratio based on sex and age. The variables, including gang members, criminal records, tattoos, body mass index, infections, concurrent psychotropic drug use, and cause of death, were compared between the groups. Of the 3343 decedents, we matched 109 in the MA group with 436 in the comparison group. Methamphetamine use was significantly associated with gang membership (13.8% vs. 3%, p 
ISSN:0379-0738
1872-6283
DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110946