Nicotine and cotinine levels in body fluids of smokers who committed suicide

Smoking, nicotine and neuropsychiatric disorders

“…Blood and urine levels of NIC and cotinine were higher among smokers who committed suicide compared with smokers who died of non-suicide-related causes according to an autopsy study. This result suggests that cigarette smokers who have committed suicide smoked more heavily than other cigarette smokers (Moriya et al, 2007).…”

Forensic implication of muscle level of nicotine in an adipocere body found in the sea

“…We reported previously that blood levels of nicotine in suicidal smokers tend to be significantly higher than those in non-suicidal smokers [2], and blood level of nicotine seems to be a useful criterion for discriminating suicide from other types of death. Based on our results which obtained from 13 analytical cases, we estimated that blood levels of nicotine and cotinine from the muscle levels in the adipocere body case were 175 and 519 ng/ml, respectively, using median ratios of nicotine and cotinine levels in skeletal muscle to blood.…”

“…These levels were considered to be extremely high levels in previous report about suicidal smokers [2], although the postmortem time interval, the formation process of adipocere and the environmental condition in water may affect nicotine and cotinine levels in the muscle.…”

“…We reported previously that nicotine levels in blood of suicidal smokers tend to be significantly higher than those of non-suicidal smokers [1,2], and the analysis of blood nicotine in unusual deaths of smokers seems to be a useful criterion for discriminating suicide from other types of death. However, the criterion is not applied in an autopsy case in which blood cannot be obtained from the vessels.…”

Is there a relationship between elderly suicide rates and smoking? A cross‐national study

“…This may be mediated through the central effects of nicotine (Tanskanen et al, 2000). Japanese suicide victims with a history of smoking had higher levels of nicotine and cotinine in their blood and urine (Moriya and Hashimotos, 2005;Moriya et al, 2006); the authors speculated that there may be a marked increase in smoking among habitual smokers before committing suicide. Second, depressed smokers may find it particularly difficult to quit smoking (Hemenway et al, 1993;Sheikh, 2000).…”