Comparing Confirmed Sodium Nitrite Suicide Deaths With Poison Center Surveillance Estimates.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Sodium nitrite is a curing agent increasingly used for self-harm and suicide, and multiple locales have reported increasing cases. However, approaches to forensic investigation of these cases are not standardized, and current modes of surveillance in the United States may be inadequate.

Objective

To define a potential standard approach for identifying sodium nitrite deaths based on forensic confirmation, and compare findings based on this standard to poison center surveillance.

Design, setting, and participants

This retrospective case series of sodium nitrite exposures and deaths was conducted in 2 urban medical examiner jurisdictions in New York State from 2000 to 2022. The population-based sample included individuals from (1) medical examiner reports of d

SUBMITTER: Bloom J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11420693 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature