Cocaine use, risk taking, and fatal Russian roulette.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between recent cocaine use and risk taking, particularly in the form of playing Russian roulette, a paradigm for extreme risk-taking behavior.


METHODS
A case-control study. CASES AND CONTROLS: The prevalence of cocaine use among all Russian roulette fatalities (N = 14) was compared with a demographically similar, randomly selected sample (N = 54) of all suicides by handgun during a contemporaneous 4-year period in New York City, NY.


RESULTS
Recent use of cocaine, the most common drug found at autopsy, was detected in 64% of Russian roulette fatalities and in 35% of the control group (P less than .05). All Russian roulette fatalities were male and usually young and unemployed. Blacks and Hispanics accounted for 80% of all cases and were overrepresented compared with their numbers in the general population.


CONCLUSIONS
In some populations cocaine may be associated with life-threatening risk-taking behaviors.
Marzuk
P M
PM
Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY 10021.
Tardiff
K
K
Smyth
D
D
Stajic
M
M
Leon
A C
AC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003042:Cocaine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011897:Random Allocation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000401:mortality
D003042:Cocaine