Risk of Methamphetamine Abuse Promoted Cerebro-Cardiovascular Defects in Thai Cadavers which Sent to Autopsy at Institute of Forensic Medicine, Thailand

Abstract

Methamphetamine abuse has also been a social and public health problems especially in Thailand. Most of the studies in other countries suggest that using methamphetamine may be one of risk factors for cerebro-cardiovascular defects. To clarify this relationship in Thai people, the authors used a retrospective and 1:1 matched case-control as a tool for study. Samples were collected from cadavers that sent to autopsy at Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM), Thailand in year 2008. Of 483 age and gender match pairs were evaluated for this association. Magnitude of risk described in odds ratio equal to 4 (±95% CI=1.13-14.17) and McNemar’s chi-square test, p=0.035. This results indicated that methamphetamine abuse was associated with a 4 folds increasing in risk for cerebro-cardiovascular defects. This trend finding seemed to be a terrible problem that public authorities should be realized and rapid take action to control those risks. Furthermore, a truly reflection about this risk in alive Thai population should be performed using a prospective cohort design.