Postmortem reference concentrations of 68 elements in blood and urine.

Area of Science:

• Forensic Toxicology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Health

Background:

• Fatal intoxications pose a global health challenge, with elemental intoxications being significant in forensic investigations.
• Understanding elemental concentrations in postmortem samples is vital for determining cause of death in accidental, suicidal, or homicidal cases.
• Pharmaceuticals dominate intoxications in Western countries, while other substances are prevalent elsewhere.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish normal postmortem reference concentrations for 68 elements in femoral blood and urine.
• To evaluate potential sources of error, including contamination from sample tubes and potassium fluoride (KF) solution.
• To assess the impact of storage time on elemental concentrations in postmortem samples.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of paired femoral blood and urine samples from 120 suicidal hanging cases in Sweden.
• Determination of elemental concentrations using double focusing sector field ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry).
• Evaluation of contamination from sample tubes and KF solutions, alongside storage time effects.

Main Results:

• Provided key descriptive statistics for 68 elements in postmortem blood and urine.
• Found minor contamination from sample tubes and relatively minor contributions from KF solution.
• Observed significant differences in 22 blood and 17 urine elements based on storage duration.

Conclusions:

• The study offers a valuable resource for evaluating postmortem elemental concentrations.
• It bridges the gap between population studies and specific case reports in elemental intoxication analysis.
• Emphasizes the importance of considering storage time in postmortem elemental analysis.