INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL INTOXICATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF FATAL HYPOTHERMIA

Abstract

This study addresses the influence of the ethanol content in the body on the development of fatal hypothermia. All cases were divided into 3 groups. The first group included 590 cases in which glycogen in the liver, skeletal muscle and myocardium was not determined. The second group consisted of 540 corpses of people who had glycogen detected in the liver, in different concentrations, and its absence in the skeletal muscle and myocardium. The third group of the study showed a sharp decrease in the content of glycogen or its absence in the skeletal muscle with its reduction in other tissues – 580 cases. There were 72,2%, – 67,8%, – 51,2% of the dead in the state of alcoholic intoxication in the studied groups, respectively. The ethanoluria/ethanolemia ratio was significantly decreased with the increase of ethanol in the blood. Thus, the use of ethanol is a risk factor for fatal hypothermia, contributing to faster utilization of glycogen in the tissues, which reduces the survival time at low ambient temperatures. The use of biochemical analysis by the content of glycogen in the tissues allows differential diagnosis of the immediate cause of death due to hypothermia in the presence of high and toxic concentrations of alcohol in the body.