UCT’s DAU column cited in a Study on Postmortem Quantitation of Amphetamine
In a recent article published in the MDPI journal, authored by Ahmed I. Al-Asmari et al., UCT’s Clean Screen® DAU column (CSDAU203) was employed to extract Amphetamines from cadaveric fluids. The objective of this research was to conduct an epidemiological study concerning Amphetamine related postmortem cases in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
To obtain more information on Amphetamine distribution after death, Multiple bodily fluid analysis was performed on 235 autopsy samples collected from cases between 2012-2018. Additionally, all the cases were identified on the basis of age/gender, pre-existing health conditions, cause of death, route of drug administration, demographic characteristics and types of drugs involved.
While the age group 31-40 contributed the highest number of cases, the amphetamine concentration in blood and other body fluids was found to be significantly greater in the deceased patients older than 30 years as compared to the patients below the age of 30. Urine samples contained the highest amphetamine concentration whereas the concentrations in blood were more closely related to vitreous samples (median 1.1 fold).
Amphetamine was the only drug detected in 107 cases and 37 deaths were attributed to amphetamine intoxication. The majority of the deaths were accidental and oral ingestion was the most common route of drug administration. Over 400% increase in amphetamine-related deaths between 2012-2018 in Jeddah leads the author to believe that more preventive programs geared towards keeping the young population away from drug abuse must be encouraged.
Citation: Al-Asmari AI, Al-Solami FD, Al-Zahrani AE, Zughaibi TA. Post-Mortem Quantitation of Amphetamine in Cadaveric Fluids in Saudi Arabia. Forensic Sciences. 2022; 2(1):222-237.
