PERSPECTIVES ON THE ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG THE REFERRED CASES TO THE LEGAL MEDICINE CENTER OF ARDABIL (NORTH-WEST OF IRAN), 2017

Background and Aim : Alcohol abuse is an important issue in clinical and legal medicine. In Iran, despite social, religious, and legal factors against the consumption of alcohol, the alcohol abuse do exist. Because of the different factors related in the pattern of the alcohol abuse, the aim of this study was to evaluate the pattern of alcohol abuse in Ardabil (a province at the North-West of Iran). Methods : This is a retrospective study on all of cases suspected to alcohol abuse which referred to the forensic toxicology laboratory at the Ardabil Legal Medicine Center (ALMC) in 2017. In all cases, the alcohol was analyzed in exhale air sample by breath alcohol analyzer (FC20 Kit, Lifeloc, USA). Also, the demographic data were extracted from the cases’ records. Results : During the study period, from 825 suspected cases for alcohol abuse detection which sent to the laboratory of the ALMC; 415 (50.3%) cases had positive test results. Most of them (97.2%) were male and 78% have less than 35 years old. The most frequent age range (34%) was 30-35 years old and 22% of them have more 35 years old. The most frequency of alcohol abuse was observed in January and February. The frequent Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) was measured in range of 85-90 g/210L. Fifty (12%) cases had BrAC more than 250 g/210L.Conclusion : Alcohol abuse was determined as a major cause of substance abuse in the Ardabil province especially in young people. From this view, prevention planning should be considered for countermeasures in this issue

کلیدواژه ها:

Alcohol ، Abuse ، Epidemiology