Postmortem Urinary Cortisol Levels in Relation to the Cause of Death

Except for in sudden deaths, the death process is likely to coincide with some degree of stress related to psychological and/or physical conditions, such as anxiety, pain, troubled breathing, and multiorgan failure [1]. Thus, stress marker measurement may be of interest in cases where the circumstances relating to death are unclear. Several studiesof postmortem cases have reported the urine or blood levels of the stress markers adrenaline and noradrenaline, or their metabolites [2-5]. The results have been somewhat unclear, but the postmortem levels have generally been higher than in living subjects. Some researchers have concluded that the elevated postmortem levels of catecholamines in blood and urine are an expression of tissue release, e.g., postmortem redistribution [6]. Others have judged that these levels relate to various causes of death [3,5].