EVALUATION OF RELATION BETWEEN INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE AND DRUG ABUSE ON CASES ATTENDED TO MENOUFIA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL (A PROSPECTIVE STUDY)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Forensic Medicine and clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University

2 aForensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine- Menoufia University, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Drug abuse and interpersonal violence are strongly linked to one another. The person's addiction to drugs increases the chances of being a perpetrator of violence or a victim to it. Illicit drugs use is recognized as a contributing factor to nearly all types of injuries due to the physical and mental impacts of illegal drugs on mind and behavior.
Objectives: This work aimed to study the relation between alleged injuries due to violence and drug abuse in cases who attended to Menoufia University Hospital to take a medicolegal report; also to study the prevalence and pattern of drugs of abuse among these cases within six months period of the study.
Subjects and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 500 individuals between 12 - 55 years after taking informed consent. A clinical sheet was designed for all cases including: sociodemographic data, history taking, clinical assessment, type, site and severity of injury. Questionnaire on drug abuse was fulfilled by every case. Cases were divided according to the severity of injury to mild, moderate, serious and fatal cases. Urine samples were collected from every case for toxicological laboratory screening tests by using immunoassays rapid tests.
Results: Males represented 90%of cases. 66 % of the cases were in the age group 18-40 years, most of them did not work (73.2%), and with an average qualification (38%) or illiterate (33.2% ), the majority of whom lived in rural areas (65%) and 70.8% of cases were involved in previous legal troubles. The highest percentage of injuries was due to blunt instruments (73.2%). Most of the injuries had moderate score of ISS (83.2%) and 14.4% of cases were admitted to the hospital.
Conclusion: Cannabis represented the highest percent of drug abuse, followed by cannabis and tramadol, while morphine derivatives were the least commonly used. The study recommends urine screening for all cases of injures due to violence. Also more accurate equipment and techniques should be used to determine the level of the substances in blood; thus monitoring substance abuse trends and quickly identifying emerging problems.

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