The epidemiology of murder-suicide
Article Abstract:
Murder-suicide occurs when individuals kill someone and then take their own lives. It could account for as many as 1,000 to 1,500 deaths in the US each year. Most of the perpetrators are male, most of the victims are female, and more than half of the victims were wives or girlfriends of the perpetrator. Spousal murder-suicide arising out of jealousy accounts for half to three-fourths of all murder-suicides in the US. Elderly men in poor health or whose wives are in poor health may commit murder-suicide; these resemble mercy killings. Another category of murder-suicide is filicide-suicide, in which a parent kills a child and then commits suicide. Familicide-suicide occurs when a depressed man kills his entire family, often because of financial, marital or social problems. Murder-suicide can be thought of as a distinct crime that differs from murder and suicide. The perpetrator is likely to be an older, white, married man, and his victim is either his wife, girlfriend, children or other relative.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1992
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Cocaine use and death during heat waves
Article Abstract:
More research is needed to determine whether heat waves are a risk factor for higher death rates among cocaine users. A 1998 study found that cocaine users had slightly higher death rates on days when the temperature was 88 degrees or hotter. This was not true among other drug users and was not caused simply by increased cocaine use during those days. However, these hot days did not necessarily occur during a prolonged heat wave. The temperature recording was made from a single weather station and did not reflect the microclimate around the individual. A prolonged heat wave might have a greater impact on death rates in cocaine users.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
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Ambient temperature and mortality from unintentional cocaine overdose
Article Abstract:
Temperatures above 88 degrees can cause an increase in mortality rates among cocaine users. Researchers analyzed all unintentional deaths from cocaine between 1990 and 1992 and compared them to death rates among opiate users, other drug users and victims of car crashes and homicides. On days when the temperature was 88 degrees or higher, the unintentional death rate among cocaine users was 33% higher than on cooler days. This was not true of the deaths in the other groups. Cocaine can increase body temperature and also can affect the heart, causing coronary artery vasospasm, rapid heartbeat, and arrhythmias.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
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