Validity of post-mortem alcohol reports.

The drinking behaviour of 95 consecutive men subjected to medicolegal autopsy in Helsinki was studied by interviewing a relative or friend of the deceased. Sufficient data for estimating the daily alcohol dose were obtained in 61 (64%) of the cases. Of these men, 21 (34%) were reported to drink at least an average of 80 g of alcohol daily. The validity of post-mortem alcohol reports was assessed by comparing the occurrence of alcohol-related diseases, toxicological data as well as the cause and manner of death with the reported alcohol consumption. Men whose reported daily alcohol consumption exceeded 80 g (mean 230 g) differed from men reported to drink less than 10 g (mean 3 g) in their more common incidence of positive post-mortem alcohol test (P less than 0.0005), fatty liver (P less than 0.001), enlarged liver (P less than 0.01), alcoholic hepatitis (P less than 0.05), chronic pancreatitis (P less than 0.01), and in their lower rate of death from cardiovascular diseases (P less than 0.05). The present results indicate that interviews with relatives or friends provide reliable data on the drinking behaviour of the deceased. At autopsy, the most sensitive tests coinciding with high consumption of alcohol in post-mortem alcohol reports but not with each other were positive post-mortem blood alcohol and the occurrence of fatty liver.