Mortality Rates Due to Substance and Stimulants Abuse in Corpses Submitted to the Forensic Medicine Organization of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province during 2013-2018

Aims: Addiction as a social problem is a phenomenon that destroyed the ability of society to organize and maintain the order of actual affairs, and it is one of the major causes of early death. The aim of the present research was to determine the mortality rates due to substance and stimulant abuse in the deceased submitted to the forensic medicine department of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad who died due to substance abuse in 2013-2018. Instruments & Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive research was carried out on all portfolios of the deceased submitted to the forensic medicine department of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, who died due to substance abuse in 2013-2018. Data were collected from the medical cases of the subjects. Data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software, through the descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Findings: Of the 123 studied cases, 93.5% were male and the rest were female (6.5%). Most of the deceased referred to the forensic medicine department were related to the 20-30 (37.4%) years age group, single people (54.5%), people with diploma (35.8%) and middle school certificates (32.5%), people with the freelance job (42.3%) and unemployed (26.0%). Opium (39.0%), methadone (27.6%) and tramadol (17.9%) had the highest frequency of drug use, respectively. The highest concurrent drug use was observed in opium-methadone (28.4%). There was a significant difference between opium, heroin, glass, tramadol and methadone consumables between 2013 and 2018 (p<0.05). Conclusion: The deceased are young people with low education, low income and unemployed as well as addiction to methadone and tramadol has an increasing trend over the years.