Jozef Sidlo, Jan Sikuta, Henrieta Sidlova, Lubos Niznansky
{"title":"Suicides by ingestion of pure caffeine powder. New challenge for public health?","authors":"Jozef Sidlo, Jan Sikuta, Henrieta Sidlova, Lubos Niznansky","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Intentional or unintentional caffeine abuse due to excessive intake of energy beverages is frequent. Fatalities due to caffeine intoxication are presented rarely. Over the last years, cases of caffeine ingestion for purposes of committing suicide have been reported in scientific literature.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>The aim of this case study is to report a fatal case of a 26-year-old man who intentionally ingested pure caffeine powder.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Standard autopsy, microscopic examination and toxicological examination using screening method, TLC, GC, and GC/MS were performed.</p><p><strong>Results and conclusions: </strong>The presence of caffeine only at the concentration of 362 ug/mL in blood and 187 ug/mL in urine was revealed. The cause of death was cardiac arrest most likely due to ventricular dysrhythmia. The concentration of caffeine determined in the femoral blood of the decedent was three times higher than the lethal concentrations reported in other published case studies. Based on the investigated circumstances, the manner of death was evaluated as a suicide.</p>","PeriodicalId":94154,"journal":{"name":"Neuro endocrinology letters","volume":"40 Suppl1","pages":"11-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neuro endocrinology letters","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: Intentional or unintentional caffeine abuse due to excessive intake of energy beverages is frequent. Fatalities due to caffeine intoxication are presented rarely. Over the last years, cases of caffeine ingestion for purposes of committing suicide have been reported in scientific literature.
Design: The aim of this case study is to report a fatal case of a 26-year-old man who intentionally ingested pure caffeine powder.
Methods: Standard autopsy, microscopic examination and toxicological examination using screening method, TLC, GC, and GC/MS were performed.
Results and conclusions: The presence of caffeine only at the concentration of 362 ug/mL in blood and 187 ug/mL in urine was revealed. The cause of death was cardiac arrest most likely due to ventricular dysrhythmia. The concentration of caffeine determined in the femoral blood of the decedent was three times higher than the lethal concentrations reported in other published case studies. Based on the investigated circumstances, the manner of death was evaluated as a suicide.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
