ArticleForensic science, medicine, and pathology2026
Multicenter toxicological analysis of psychoactive substances in suicide victims in Brazil.
Article in Forensic science, medicine, and pathology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To assess the prevalence and toxicological profile of psychoactive substance use among coroner-certified suicide cases in Brazil. We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional study using probabilistic post-mortem blood sampling of suicide victims autopsied at the Institutes of Forensic Medicine between March 2022 and June 2024. Data were collected from forensic units covering metropolitan areas of the state capitals of Pará, Pernambuco, Espírito Santo, and Paraná. Alcohol and other psychoactive substances were analyzed using headspace-gas chromatography and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Among 330 suicide victims, 54.4% tested positive for at least one psychoactive substance. Alcohol was the most detected substance (29.4%), followed by cocaine (21.2%) and benzodiazepines (20.3%). Polysubstance use occurred in 14.5% of cases, most involving simultaneous use of alcohol and cocaine. Substance-positive victims were younger than those without detectable substances (median age: 38 vs. 44 years, p = 0.04). Cocaine use was associated with concurrent alcohol use (OR: 4.05; 95% CI: 2.33-7.03) and death by asphyxia (OR: 2.65; 95% CI: 1.25-5.60). This multicenter toxicological study, the first in Brazil, shows that psychoactive substances are prevalent among suicide victims, with alcohol, cocaine, and benzodiazepines most often detected. The co-use of alcohol and cocaine, especially among younger victims, underscores a risk profile that may intensify lethality. Broader surveillance and longitudinal designs are needed to clarify causal links and strengthen suicide prevention strategies that integrate toxicological evidence with mental health and substance use care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42498913What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.