[Fatal poisonings in Jutland 1980-1989]

A description is given of trends in the pattern of fatal poisonings examined at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Aarhus University during the period 1980 through 1989 (638 men and 391 women). These cases comprised 36% of all fatal poisonings in the area during the decade. In more than half of the medicolegally examined cases, death was categorized as accident. In two thirds of the examined cases death was caused by drugs, whereas non-medical substances (alcohol, carbon monoxide etc.) accounted for one third of the deaths. During the ten-year period, a decline was seen in the number of barbiturate-related deaths, whereas the number of deaths caused by analgesics increased. Propoxyphene was the drug found to have caused most deaths during the period, and developments concerning fatal poisonings involving this drug must still be watched closely.