[Cerebrovascular disease with a fatal outcome and the recent consumption of alcohol].

Abstract

The authors have investigated 19 cases of nontraumatic cerebrovascular accidents with a fatal outcome from a total of 1,627 consecutive nonselected forensic autopsies. Alcohol concentration in the blood was determined in 15 cases of which 60% (9 subjects) tested positive. The median age of the group with positive alcohol blood tests was 50.4 +/- 6.2 years. The median age of the group with negative results was 51.7 +/- 5.4 years. In the group with positive tests 4 were chronic consumers of alcohol. As compared with 1,773 determinations of blood alcohol done in the general casuistics of forensic medicine it appears that the incidence of alcohol concentrations under 1 g/thousand is greater in subjects that died with cerebrovascular accidents. In the group of subjects with alcohol concentrations in the blood between 1 and 2 g/thousand, and over, reflecting an advanced degree of inebriation, there are no significant differences between the two lots. In the authors cases the haemorrhagic forms of nontraumatic cerebrovascular accidents were predominant. Ischaemic lesions were found in only two cases.