title: Prevalence of rhabdomyolysis in drug deaths.
abstract: Rhabdomyolysis has repeatedly been reported as a possible consequence of illicit drug consumption especially in clinical literature. In order to investigate the prevalence of rhabdomyolysis in cases of drug deaths, immunohistochemical staining of kidney sections with a myoglobin antibody was performed at 103 consecutive fatal drug poisonings. The control group consisted of 107 unselected forensic autopsies. With regard to the presence of intratubular myoglobin, 33% of the study group were categorized as "strongly positive", 17.5% as "slightly positive" and 49.5% as "negative". No single substance showed a particularly high incidence of rhabdomyolysis nor were there correlations to special combinations of substances. In the control group a "strongly positive" result after myoglobin staining was observed in only 10.3% of 107 cases, a "slightly positive" result in 13.1% and a "negative" result in 76.6%. The findings suggest that rhabdomyolysis is a frequent consequence of illicit drug consumption and that it is not promoted by a single factor, but by a combination of several factors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Freiburg, Albertstrasse 9, D-79104, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Welte
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bohnert
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pollak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000276:immunology; D009294:Narcotics / Q000506:poisoning*; D015995:Prevalence; D012206:Rhabdomyolysis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D009211:Myoglobin; D009294:Narcotics