Evaluation of forensic autopsy cases with substance use detected in Izmir, Turkey

Using postmortem toxicological analyses, we aimed to determine the origin and cause of death and type of substance used in substance use-related deaths. A total of 7475 autopsies were performed between January 2015 and December 2017 in İzmir, Turkey. In our retrospective analysis, substance use was detected in 449 (6.0%) autopsies. The majority (96.4%) were male. The most frequent deaths (18.5%) occurred in the 25-29 age group. Of the 55.2% of the cases that died of unnatural causes, accident-related events (22.9%) were most frequent. Trauma/injury caused death in 37.0% of cases and substance intoxication in 24.7%. Cannabis use was detected in 34.3% of the samples, and multiple substance use in 25.4%. Accordingly, It is thought that a multidisciplinary approach can be successful in preventing substance use and related problems.